Smaller share of families returned to get temporary financial aid from scheme

A smaller proportion of lower-income families received help again to tide them over their financial difficulties, within three years of them leaving a government financial aid scheme.

- Theresa Tan

About 54 per cent of families on Com Care Short-To-Medium-Term Assistance (SMTA) received another tranche of cash assistance within three years of leaving the scheme in 2020.

This is a drop from a return rate of 63 per cent of families whose aid ended in 2019.

This is the first time such data has been made public in the annual Com Care statistics, which were released by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) on Nov 19 in its Supporting Lower-Income Households Trends Report.

Com Care is the key social safety net for lower-income families in Singapore, and the SMTA scheme gives families temporary financial aid to cover the shortfall in their in-comes to meet their basic living expenses.

A household is considered to be off the scheme when it stops getting aid for at least one month.

In 2023, fewer families received SMTA, and the total amount disbursed through the scheme also fell from $112.5 million in 2022 to $105.1 million in 2023.

The trends reflect the post-Covid-19 economic recovery, where more people are employed, coupled with the support Singaporeans get from other government schemes, said the report.

Families that returned to getting help from the SMTA scheme are more likely to have more dependants, family members who are medically unfit to work, or live in one- and two-room HDB rental flats, said the report.

The 41-page report outlined key trends in the Com Care schemes, and included data about the more than 9,000 families on the new Com Link4- scheme, which was announced in 2023.