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Parents who have a Second Child can now get More Financial Support; Cash benefit for those not eligible for paternity or adoption leave

26 February 2021

Parents can look forward to more financial support for their second child, including a doubling of the maximum dollar-for-dollar CDA matching from $3,000 to $6,000. New Government-Paid Paternity and Adoption Benefits will also provide cash in lieu of leave for fathers and adoptive mothers not currently eligible.

Parents can look forward to more financial support when they have a second child from this year onwards. Fathers and adoptive mothers who are not currently eligible for paternity leave or adoption leave respectively, could get cash in lieu. These enhancements to the Marriage and Parenthood Package are part of Government’s ongoing efforts to strengthen support for Singaporeans who want to have children and raise a family.

Government doubles the maximum amount of dollar-for-dollar matching for the second child when parents save in the Child Development Account (CDA)

Nine in 10 married Singaporeans would like to have two or more children1, and almost two-thirds of them still do.2 However, there is an increasing proportion who are having only one child. Parents who are planning for their second child can now look forward to more support. Currently, the Government’s contributions to the CDA for the first child is the same as that for the second child. The Government will double the maximum amount it will match dollar-for-dollar in the CDA of a second child from $3,000 to $6,000. All Singaporean children who are the second child, and whose date of birth or Estimated Date of Delivery (EDD) is on or after 1 January 2021, will be eligible.3 Approximately 12,000 children and their families will benefit from this enhancement annually.

With this enhancement, the maximum total Government contribution to CDA for the second child will increase to $9,000. This includes the $3,000 CDA First Step Grant, which is automatically credited upfront into the CDA. In all, parents can receive up to $24,000 in financial support for their second child. Please refer to Annex A for a summary of the total financial support parents can receive for each child.

Government-paid Paternity Benefit for fathers and Adoption Benefit for adoptive mothers

The Government will be introducing a new Government-Paid Paternity Benefit (GPPB) and Government-Paid Adoption Benefit (GPAB) to help working fathers5 and adoptive mothers who do not qualify for paternity leave or adoption leave. This group of parents may have been on short-term employment contracts or had an employment contract that ended just before their child was born or adopted, and therefore would not benefit from paternity or adoption leave.

Similar to the Government-Paid Maternity Benefit, the GPPB and GPAB schemes will give parents cash benefits in lieu of paid leave. The amount of benefit is equivalent to the Government-paid portion of paternity leave or Adoption Leave for Mothers6.

The benefits will apply to parents whose child’s date of birth, EDD, or formal intent to adopt7 is on or after 1 January 2021. To qualify, parents must have worked for a total of at least 90 days in the 12 months before their child’s birth or formal intent to adopt. More details on the eligibility criteria and application process will be released later.

A summary of the two new benefits for parents can be found in Annex B.

For more information on the latest enhancements and the comprehensive suite of Marriage and Parenthood support measures, visit www.madeforfamilies.gov.sg (opens in new tab)

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1 Source: National Population and Talent Division’s 2016 Marriage and Parenthood Survey
2 Based on Department of Statistics (2019) data, almost two-thirds of ever-married women have two or more children in Singapore.
3 Government will co-match parents’ savings up to the increased cap from 1 April 2021. Parents whose children qualify and had saved into their child’s CDA before 1 April 2021, will also receive the increased co-matching.
4 Includes Baby Bonus Cash Gift, Baby Support Grant, Government contributions to CDA, and Medisave Grant for Newborns.
5 Includes natural and adoptive fathers
6 This will be calculated based on the average income earned by the father/ adoptive mother, over the 12-month period preceding the child’s birth or FIA (whichever applicable).
7 Formal intent to adopt (FIA) is the date when an application to adopt is submitted to Court (for a Singapore Citizen child), or the date when the dependent’s pass (DP) in respect of the child is issued or a document indicating the application for the DP has been approved (for a foreign child).