Short-term Work Permits for Foreign Domestic Workers to Provide Respite Support for Singaporean Families

The following question stood in the name of Mr Desmond Choo –

14 To ask the Minister for Manpower whether the Ministry will consider introducing short-term work permits for foreign domestic workers (FDWs) to provide respite support for families and to allow employment agencies to cater to families requiring short-term domestic help.

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye (Tanjong Pagar): Question No 14, please.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Manpower (Ms Low Yen Ling) (for the Minister for Manpower): Mr Speaker, hiring an FDW who works and lives in the household is a major commitment on the part of the employer. It could be detrimental to an FDW to be brought into Singapore for short-term respite support, where she may encounter uncertainty about the duration of work or when the employers' needs change suddenly. The FDW might also not earn enough to repay the agency fees or loans she had taken in order to come to Singapore to work.

To help families with short-term options, MOM introduced the Household Services Scheme (HSS) in 2017, which allows foreign workers to provide domestic services, such as cleaning, to households. While they may be deployed to specific households for short periods of time, the foreign workers under HSS are employed full-time by the service providers and on longer duration contracts.

Families caring for the elderly and who require short-term care options can also tap on respite care services available at senior care centres or nursing homes. For younger children, families may engage child care centres or student care centres on a suitable care arrangement that meets their needs, which may also include short-term care.

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye (Tanjong Pagar): I thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for her answer. I have two questions. One, why is the work permit for foreign domestic workers fixed at two years? Will MOM consider reviewing this permit term duration? My second question is, I find HSS rather interesting, rather novel, but it is currently confined only to cleaning services. Can MOM actually consider extending this pilot scheme to, perhaps, care-giving as well, that is, households who required care-giving services?

Ms Low Yen Ling: Mr Speaker, I want to thank the Member Mr Melvin Yong for his two supplementary questions. On the first question on the time duration of the work permit, the FDW's work permit is set at two years to provide certainty and stability to both the FDW and also the employer. This takes into consideration the resources and also the efforts that both the FDW and the employer invest in the employment relationship. For example, the FDW needs time for her to earn enough to repay the fee that needs to be paid to the employment agency. Also, the employer also needs time to train the FDW. So, that is why it is set at a two-year period.

On the second question about HSS, it was piloted in September 2017 to provide domestic cleaning services for employers who require such support services. And we are always reviewing to see how we can improve it. So, I want to assure Mr Melvin Yong and also Mr Desmond Choo who filed the PQ that MOM is prepared to consider including companies which provide care-giving services and short-term respite care, with MOH's support and if there is industry demand.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): Can I just ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary whether we can consider providing some subsidies for HSS. I understand the cost is quite high. In a similar way that we provide subsidies for the foreign worker levy, can we consider such subsidies also for HSS?

Ms Low Yen Ling: I want to thank the Member Mr Louis Ng for the question. Currently, the FDW concession is meant to support families with young kids and also families with elderly. And as we review how we can improve HSS, we need to bear in mind how we are designing it to provide the support for sandwiched families where they have younger kids and elderly.