SINGAPORE: Almost 40 per cent of lower-income families on ComLink+ did not have any family members earning a regular wage at the end of 2024, according to a report by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) published on Tuesday (Dec 16).
Last year, 4,025 families on ComLink+ had no family member in stable employment with regular income. This rose from 3,563 in 2023, data from the ministry showed.
Stable employment refers to being in employment for six consecutive months or more in a year. The data does not capture income from platform work before 2025, hence it may underestimate the number of families with members employed, said MSF.
For those with jobs, the report also found that the earnings of households in the lower-income brackets rose faster than that of median households over the past five years.
From 2019 to 2024, the annualised growth for groups in the bottom 20 per cent of earners was 1.9 per cent, which is higher than the median group's 1.3 per cent.
The ministry said in a statement: "While the government creates opportunities and provides additional support for lower-income families, these families often have unique needs that are not easy to address, even with nationwide programmes."
Since the rollout of ComLink+ in 2024, MSF has shifted its focus away from providing short-term assistance for basic expenses via ComCare payouts. The new scheme incentivises lower-income families to get a stable job, enrol children in preschools, pay off debt and save up for a home.
By the end of 2024, corporate organisations supported more than 500 ComLink+ programmes and activities. They contributed S$37 million (US$28.7 million) in donations and other support, such as groceries, family outings and digital literacy programmes.
As of December 2024, 10,219 families agreed to join the ComLink+ scheme, an increase from the 9,153 families in December 2023.
The report tracks the progress of ComLink+ families across six domains: income security, children’s development and education, housing, family functioning, financial resilience and health.
To this end, the ministry combined various indicators to categorise families as “not achieved stability”, “stable”, “self-reliant” and “socially mobile”. Families must meet both stability and self-reliance indicators in order to be considered self-reliant, and achieve all indicators to be recognised as socially mobile.
As of December last year, 5,763 families had not achieved stability, which was an increase from 4,920 in 2023. This change was primarily driven by families that were onboarded in 2024.
Of the 2,902 ComLink+ families onboarded in 2024, 61 per cent had not achieved stability, especially in the income security and family functioning domains.
In response to CNA's queries on the report's findings, MSF reiterated that ComLink+ families often face complex and interlocking issues "that will take time to address".
"The journey for ComLink+ families towards social mobility is a long-term one, and meaningful change may not be fully evident within a year."
As of December 2024, 28 per cent of ComLink+ families (2,840 households) under the scheme were considered to be socially mobile in terms of income security. This is an increase from 26 per cent of ComLink+ families (2,342 households) in 2023.
This meant that they had stable employment, were not on major forms of financial assistance at any point in time in the last 12 months and had real income growth overtime.
Major forms of financial assistance include all forms of ComCare assistance, MUIS (Islamic Religious Council of Singapore) Zakat financial assistance, MINDEF (Ministry of Defence) National Serviceman financial assistance, among others.
On the other hand, 39 per cent of ComLink+ families (4,025 households) had not achieved stability in 2024 - meaning that they were not in stable employment and do not draw a regular wage.
The report stated that 46 per cent of ComLink+ families received at least one form of major financial support, which is mainly through ComCare.
More than 20 per cent, or 2,103 families, were recognised as stable, which meant they had stable employment with a regular income source.
The final 12 per cent of families were seen as self-reliant. This meant that on top of being stable, they were not on any major forms of financial assistance.
One aspect that saw the worst outcomes in the report was in the family functioning domain, which looks at cases where child protection or family violence services were needed.
The share of ComLink+ families with active domestic violence or child protection cases rose to 16 per cent in 2024, up from 11 per cent the year before.
This amounts to 1,657 families, an increase of 685 cases compared with 2023.
Most of the increase came from families newly onboarded to ComLink+ in 2024. Of the 2,902 families added last year, 17 per cent were working with MSF or social service agencies to address domestic violence or child protection concerns.
Despite the increase, 84 per cent of families were assessed to be safe from harm, though this was slightly lower than the 89 per cent recorded in 2023.
The data also showed that more ComLink+ families with Singaporean preschool-aged children achieved self-reliance, rising from 405 in 2023 to 712 last year. In terms of the proportion of ComLink+ families, this is an improvement from 13 per cent in 2023 to 21 per cent in 2024.
Self-reliance in this case meant that the children of these households are not only attending preschool regularly, but have also completed all mandatory vaccinations under the Ministry of Health’s National Childhood Immunisation Schedule - one of the criteria preschool-aged children need to meet to be seen as self-reliant.
However, the increase is due to changes in data collection to include more preschools.
“This increase can be attributed to the inclusion of attendance data of families with preschool children enrolled in non-anchor operator preschools, which was not available in December 2023,” MSF said.
In any case, the data still showed that 46 per cent of ComLink+ families in 2024 had children who were enrolled in preschool and had received compulsory vaccinations but did not attend regularly, falling from 1,720 households in 2023 to 1,593 last year.
Meanwhile, the number of families whose preschool-aged children were neither enrolled nor vaccinated saw a slight rise from 986 in 2023 to 1,158 in 2024.
The proportion of ComLink+ families who had all Singaporean preschool-aged children enrolled in preschool was similar at 89 per cent in both 2023 and 2024, said MSF.
Data from the ministry also showed that 58 per cent of ComLink+ families with children in Primary 1 did not require additional learning support for their children.
“International research shows that attending quality preschools can boost children’s confidence and social skills,” the report said. “Local research also shows that children who attended preschool from age 3 were less likely to require additional learning support in primary school.
Around 69 per cent, or 5,398 ComLink+ families, had children who were enrolled in schools, attended regularly and were progressing to post-secondary education institutions.
There were 564 ComLink+ families whose children were not enrolled in schools in 2024 and had likely dropped out. This included 403 families who had at least one child aged 17 to 21 years old and had neither secondary nor post-secondary school enrolment records, the report showed.
The share of ComLink+ families whose 21-year-olds graduated from post-secondary institutions by age 21 reached 60 per cent in 2024, up slightly from 58 per cent in 2023.
As for ComCare financial assistance, the report's findings showed that fewer households received support from the scheme in 2024 compared with the previous year, continuing a downward trend in recent years.
ComCare provides financial assistance for households that are temporarily or permanently unable to meet their daily living expenses.
There are three major types of ComCare assistance:
The number of homes supported by SMTA decreased from 22,960 in 2023 to 20,825 in 2024.
The amount of money disbursed through SMTA also fell from S$150.2 million in 2021 to S$122.5 million in 2022, S$105.1 million in 2023 and S$94 million in 2024.
The median monthly amount of cash assistance through SMTA disbursed per beneficiary in assisted households increased by S$10 to S$380 from 2023 to 2024, and up by S$31 since 2020, according to the report.
Findings from the report showed that the proportion of households that returned to SMTA within 36 months, or three years, fell from 61 per cent for the 2018 exit cohort to 49 per cent for the 2021 exit cohort.
“Across households that exited SMTA for at least one month from 2018 to 2021, most of the households that returned to SMTA within 36 months did so within the first 12 months, suggesting that households are most vulnerable to changes in their financial circumstances in the first year after exiting SMTA,” the ministry said.
The number of households supported by LTA dropped from 3,479 in 2023 to 3,240 last year.
Last year, a total of S$21.4 million was disbursed, down from S$23 million the year before.
These trends may reflect more residents working longer years, younger cohorts of elderly having higher levels of savings, and the expansion of government social support for seniors in recent years, said MSF.
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Last year, 4,025 families on ComLink+ had no family member in stable employment with regular income. This rose from 3,563 in 2023, data from the ministry showed.
Stable employment refers to being in employment for six consecutive months or more in a year. The data does not capture income from platform work before 2025, hence it may underestimate the number of families with members employed, said MSF.
For those with jobs, the report also found that the earnings of households in the lower-income brackets rose faster than that of median households over the past five years.
From 2019 to 2024, the annualised growth for groups in the bottom 20 per cent of earners was 1.9 per cent, which is higher than the median group's 1.3 per cent.
The ministry said in a statement: "While the government creates opportunities and provides additional support for lower-income families, these families often have unique needs that are not easy to address, even with nationwide programmes."
Since the rollout of ComLink+ in 2024, MSF has shifted its focus away from providing short-term assistance for basic expenses via ComCare payouts. The new scheme incentivises lower-income families to get a stable job, enrol children in preschools, pay off debt and save up for a home.
By the end of 2024, corporate organisations supported more than 500 ComLink+ programmes and activities. They contributed S$37 million (US$28.7 million) in donations and other support, such as groceries, family outings and digital literacy programmes.
As of December 2024, 10,219 families agreed to join the ComLink+ scheme, an increase from the 9,153 families in December 2023.
The report tracks the progress of ComLink+ families across six domains: income security, children’s development and education, housing, family functioning, financial resilience and health.
To this end, the ministry combined various indicators to categorise families as “not achieved stability”, “stable”, “self-reliant” and “socially mobile”. Families must meet both stability and self-reliance indicators in order to be considered self-reliant, and achieve all indicators to be recognised as socially mobile.
As of December last year, 5,763 families had not achieved stability, which was an increase from 4,920 in 2023. This change was primarily driven by families that were onboarded in 2024.
Of the 2,902 ComLink+ families onboarded in 2024, 61 per cent had not achieved stability, especially in the income security and family functioning domains.
In response to CNA's queries on the report's findings, MSF reiterated that ComLink+ families often face complex and interlocking issues "that will take time to address".
"The journey for ComLink+ families towards social mobility is a long-term one, and meaningful change may not be fully evident within a year."
INCOME SECURITY
As of December 2024, 28 per cent of ComLink+ families (2,840 households) under the scheme were considered to be socially mobile in terms of income security. This is an increase from 26 per cent of ComLink+ families (2,342 households) in 2023.
This meant that they had stable employment, were not on major forms of financial assistance at any point in time in the last 12 months and had real income growth overtime.
Major forms of financial assistance include all forms of ComCare assistance, MUIS (Islamic Religious Council of Singapore) Zakat financial assistance, MINDEF (Ministry of Defence) National Serviceman financial assistance, among others.
On the other hand, 39 per cent of ComLink+ families (4,025 households) had not achieved stability in 2024 - meaning that they were not in stable employment and do not draw a regular wage.
The report stated that 46 per cent of ComLink+ families received at least one form of major financial support, which is mainly through ComCare.
More than 20 per cent, or 2,103 families, were recognised as stable, which meant they had stable employment with a regular income source.
The final 12 per cent of families were seen as self-reliant. This meant that on top of being stable, they were not on any major forms of financial assistance.
MORE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE OR CHILD PROTECTION CASES
One aspect that saw the worst outcomes in the report was in the family functioning domain, which looks at cases where child protection or family violence services were needed.
The share of ComLink+ families with active domestic violence or child protection cases rose to 16 per cent in 2024, up from 11 per cent the year before.
This amounts to 1,657 families, an increase of 685 cases compared with 2023.
Most of the increase came from families newly onboarded to ComLink+ in 2024. Of the 2,902 families added last year, 17 per cent were working with MSF or social service agencies to address domestic violence or child protection concerns.
Despite the increase, 84 per cent of families were assessed to be safe from harm, though this was slightly lower than the 89 per cent recorded in 2023.
REGULAR PRESCHOOL ATTENDANCE
The data also showed that more ComLink+ families with Singaporean preschool-aged children achieved self-reliance, rising from 405 in 2023 to 712 last year. In terms of the proportion of ComLink+ families, this is an improvement from 13 per cent in 2023 to 21 per cent in 2024.
Self-reliance in this case meant that the children of these households are not only attending preschool regularly, but have also completed all mandatory vaccinations under the Ministry of Health’s National Childhood Immunisation Schedule - one of the criteria preschool-aged children need to meet to be seen as self-reliant.
However, the increase is due to changes in data collection to include more preschools.
“This increase can be attributed to the inclusion of attendance data of families with preschool children enrolled in non-anchor operator preschools, which was not available in December 2023,” MSF said.
In any case, the data still showed that 46 per cent of ComLink+ families in 2024 had children who were enrolled in preschool and had received compulsory vaccinations but did not attend regularly, falling from 1,720 households in 2023 to 1,593 last year.
Meanwhile, the number of families whose preschool-aged children were neither enrolled nor vaccinated saw a slight rise from 986 in 2023 to 1,158 in 2024.
The proportion of ComLink+ families who had all Singaporean preschool-aged children enrolled in preschool was similar at 89 per cent in both 2023 and 2024, said MSF.
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Data from the ministry also showed that 58 per cent of ComLink+ families with children in Primary 1 did not require additional learning support for their children.
“International research shows that attending quality preschools can boost children’s confidence and social skills,” the report said. “Local research also shows that children who attended preschool from age 3 were less likely to require additional learning support in primary school.
Around 69 per cent, or 5,398 ComLink+ families, had children who were enrolled in schools, attended regularly and were progressing to post-secondary education institutions.
There were 564 ComLink+ families whose children were not enrolled in schools in 2024 and had likely dropped out. This included 403 families who had at least one child aged 17 to 21 years old and had neither secondary nor post-secondary school enrolment records, the report showed.
The share of ComLink+ families whose 21-year-olds graduated from post-secondary institutions by age 21 reached 60 per cent in 2024, up slightly from 58 per cent in 2023.
FEWER HOUSEHOLDS RECEIVING COMCARE ASSISTANCE
As for ComCare financial assistance, the report's findings showed that fewer households received support from the scheme in 2024 compared with the previous year, continuing a downward trend in recent years.
ComCare provides financial assistance for households that are temporarily or permanently unable to meet their daily living expenses.
There are three major types of ComCare assistance:
- Short-to-medium term assistance (SMTA): Supports households with temporary financial assistance to meet a family’s basic living expenses
- Long-term assistance (LTA): Supports people who are permanently unable to work and have little or no family support
- Student care fee assistance (SCFA): For children from lower-income families
The number of homes supported by SMTA decreased from 22,960 in 2023 to 20,825 in 2024.
The amount of money disbursed through SMTA also fell from S$150.2 million in 2021 to S$122.5 million in 2022, S$105.1 million in 2023 and S$94 million in 2024.
The median monthly amount of cash assistance through SMTA disbursed per beneficiary in assisted households increased by S$10 to S$380 from 2023 to 2024, and up by S$31 since 2020, according to the report.
Findings from the report showed that the proportion of households that returned to SMTA within 36 months, or three years, fell from 61 per cent for the 2018 exit cohort to 49 per cent for the 2021 exit cohort.
“Across households that exited SMTA for at least one month from 2018 to 2021, most of the households that returned to SMTA within 36 months did so within the first 12 months, suggesting that households are most vulnerable to changes in their financial circumstances in the first year after exiting SMTA,” the ministry said.
The number of households supported by LTA dropped from 3,479 in 2023 to 3,240 last year.
Last year, a total of S$21.4 million was disbursed, down from S$23 million the year before.
These trends may reflect more residents working longer years, younger cohorts of elderly having higher levels of savings, and the expansion of government social support for seniors in recent years, said MSF.
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