Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Indranee Rajah, has announced that the Government will be providing a one-off Baby Support Grant (BSG) of $3,000 to supplement the Baby Bonus Cash Gift for each Singaporean child born from 1 Oct 2020 to 30 Sep 2022.
Ms Indranee said that parents will now receive up to $21,000 in cash and cash-like benefits for their first child and up to $35,000 for their 5th child and beyond, with the new BSG.
The new initiative was first announced in Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat’s ministerial statement in Parliament, on 5 Oct. Mr Heng, who is also Finance Minister, revealed that the Government will provide one-off additional support to parents of newborns to soften the impact the pandemic may have had on their parenthood plans.
He said: “We have received feedback that Covid-19 has caused some aspiring parents to postpone their parenthood plans. This is fully understandable, especially when they face uncertainty with their income.
“Hence, to help with expenses during this period, we will introduce a one-off additional support for newborns. This will be on top of the Baby Bonus Cash Gift, which provides eligible parents up to S$10,000 in benefits.”
In a Facebook post on 9 Oct, Ms Rajah announced that the one-off $3,000 BSG is an add-on to the existing Marriage & Parenthood Package and a support measure over and above parental leave as well and pre-school and healthcare subsidies. She said, “We hope this will further help with child-raising costs during these uncertain times.”
In her post, Ms Indranee also appreciated businesses like maternity and children retail chain Mothercare for stepping up to offer product discounts to encourage and support families, at this time. She urged: “We’d like to encourage everyone, including employers, businesses, community groups, extended family and friends, to support a Singapore that is #MadeForFamililes. [sic]“
Posted by Indranee Rajah on Friday, 9 October 2020
DPM Heng announces additional support for parents of newborns amid Covid-19 pandemic