SINGAPORE: There was one small but significant shift in the new SG Child Support Package unveiled at this year’s National Day Rally. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced that every Singaporean child will receive almost $$70,000 (US$55,000) in direct financial support by the time they turn 17.This includes children born to unmarried parents, who until now have been excluded from the Baby Bonus cash gift. As recently as February this year, the government explained in a parliamentary reply that this benefit was not extended to single unwed parents because it was “designed to encourage parenthood within marriage”.In fact, such children were previously excluded from Child Development Account (CDA) benefits as well. It was only from September 2016 that children born to unwed parents qualified for government co-matching of their CDA contributions and the one-off First Step Grant (then S$3,000), though they would still be excluded from the Baby Bonus cash gift. The latest change is welcome for single parents. But there is another significance for all Singaporeans: It suggests an evolution in Singapore’s social compact.
A GRADUAL SHIFTThe new SG Child Support Package represents the latest step in a broader policy evolution that has gradually extended social benefits to single parents. There has been a “longstanding tension between the objective of promoting parenthood in the context of marriage (as a social norm the government wishes to uphold) and meeting the needs of single parents, especially those who are lower income,” as I noted in my book Refreshing The Singapore System: Recalibrating Socio-Economic Policy For The 21st Century (2021).In 2013, paid childcare leave was extended to working single parents. From 2017, maternity leave for unwed mothers was increased from eight to 16 weeks to be on par with that for married mothers. Further to this, the government announced in 2020 that unmarried single parents aged 21 and above could be considered for new 3-room HDB flats in non-mature estates, rather than having to wait till age 35 like singles.Even so, there remains a differentiation in benefits according to a parent’s marital status. Notably, a single unwed mother cannot claim Working Mother's Child Relief, which allows married, divorced or widowed working mothers to directly lower the amount subject to personal income tax.
