Managing a career and family is a balancing act. But with implemented schemes that are meant to support and enable young families, Singaporeans can be assured that their aspirations are supported.

Here are six reasons that will ease your worries – be it financing a family or caring for them.

Housing Grants

With the Family Grant and Enhanced CPF Housing Grant, first time owners are eligible to a grant of up to $130,000. An additional grant of up to $30,000 under the Proximity Housing Grant is provided when you decide to live within a 4km radius from your parents. This grant makes purchasing a resale flat more affordable, and families get to look out for one another at times of need. The latter scheme that was enhanced in 2018 has since benefitted more than 20,000 households.

If a Build to Order (BTO) flat is more up your alley, back in September 2019, the Government had raised the income ceiling for first-time home buyers (couples) to $14,000.

MediSave Grant for newborns

Since January 2015, all newborns will have a CPF Medisave account and a grant of $4,000 that is automatically credited. This is meant to assist parents on healthcare expenses for their child such as hospitalisation, recommended childhood vaccinations, MediShield Life premiums and approved outpatient treatments.

Baby Bonus

In supporting couples on their decision to have more children, the Government has enhanced the Baby Bonus scheme back in 2015 to lighten couples’ financial expenses.

The enhanced scheme sees the inclusion of cash gift and the Children Development Account (CDA) First Step grant, which is a special savings account that can be used to pay for the child’s education and healthcare. Babies born from 2016 onwards will receive up to $3,000 in the account.

Affordable and quality preschool education for all

On top of the Basic Subsidy and the means-tested Additional Subsidy for children attending childcare or infant care programmes, the Government has raised the gross monthly household income ceiling for Additional Subsidy and Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme (KiFAS) to $12,000, or $3,000 Per Capita Income (PCI) basis.

The Government has also raised the subsidy amounts across all income tiers that qualify for Additional Subsidy and KiFAS. The schemes took effect in January 2020.

A family with dual-income earning of $8,000 per month, will pay $280 monthly for full-day childcare services at an Anchor Operator preschool, compared to up to $470 previously. Lower-income families earning $3,000 or less per month, will only need to pay $3 monthly.

KidStart programme

By 2022, some additional 5,000 children from low-income families are expected to benefit from the KidStart programme.

Led by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), the Government pilot programme that was launched in 2016 will see an expansion to more districts from April 2020.

The monthly household income ceiling for KidStart have also been raised from S$1,900 to S$2,500 – enabling even more children the opportunity for preschool education.

Shared parental leave

Having a solid support system when raising a child is beneficial, and in encouraging more working fathers to get involved upon the birth of their child, the Shared Parental Leave enables them to share up to 4 weeks of their wife’s paid maternity leave.

The policy that took effect in 2017 is one of the ways that the Government is exploring to encourage more babies in Singapore.