Singaporeans who are Eligible for Workfare Income Supplement but Who are Left Out
Ministry of ManpowerSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns whether eligible Singaporean workers are being omitted from Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) payouts and the specific avenues available for appeals. Minister for Manpower Lim Swee Say explained that omissions typically occur due to changes in circumstances after data cut-off dates and advised affected workers to appeal to the Central Provident Fund Board. The Ministry accepts such appeals for up to two years to ensure all eligible workers receive their supplements. Recent enhancements to the scheme include increasing the qualifying income ceiling to $2,000 and transitioning from quarterly to monthly payouts. These policy updates aim to benefit approximately 460,000 Singaporeans, providing regular support to supplement the incomes and retirement savings of low-wage workers.
Transcript
84 Ms K Thanaletchimi asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether there are cases of Singaporean workers who meet the eligibility criteria for the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) payouts but who have been omitted from such payouts; (b) if so, who and where should these workers make their appeals to; and (c) if there are such omissions, how can the Ministry ensure that WIS payouts reach all eligible workers.
Mr Lim Swee Say: The Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme is designed to supplement the incomes and retirement savings for the bottom 20% of Singaporeans by income percentile, with a smaller degree of support up to the 30th income percentile.
Workers who are eligible for WIS will not be omitted from receiving WIS payouts. However, there were some cases where workers may not have received their WIS payouts. This was mainly because their circumstances had changed after the data cut-off dates. These workers can approach Central Provident Fund Board to reassess their eligibility for WIS. We accept appeals for up to two years after the year in which the work was done, in recognition that some workers may not lodge their appeals immediately.
In January 2017, we implemented several enhancements to WIS, such as paying WIS on a monthly instead of quarterly basis, and increasing the qualifying monthly income ceiling from $1,900 to $2,000. About 460,000 Singaporeans are expected to receive WIS for work done this year. These changes ensured that WIS would continue to provide a meaningful level of support to low-wage Singaporean workers.