Details on when new childcare leave benefits kick in to be shared in early 2027: Indranee

SINGAPORE – More details on the start date of childcare leave enhancements announced at the National Day Rally will be shared in early 2027, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah.

This is as laws have to be amended and implementation details worked out with employers and unions, she said in response to parliamentary questions on Sept 10.

The Government is also studying ways to better support companies with backfilling arrangements, though the longer-term solution to firms’ operational challenges is to accept that leave for caregiving needs is now part and parcel of normal human resources policy, and to design their workplace norms and practices around this, she added.

Indranee was replying to four questions by MPs on the expanded leave benefits that Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced in August, which will provide each working parent with up to 12 days of childcare leave a year, up from the current six days if their children are aged up to six and two days if their children are aged seven to 12.

PM Wong had also said the state will fully fund all costs for statutory child-related leave up to a limit, instead of the current model where costs are shared 50-50 with employers.

Workers’ Party Non-Constituency MP Andre Low asked how the authorities will help businesses beyond the reimbursement of leave costs. He also noted that the impact of expanded childcare leave would disproportionately impact smaller firms.

Indranee replied that apart from financial support, a change in mindsets will have to be a big part of the solution, and that the Government is engaging employers on this.

“The signal that we’re sending to all employers is that the workplace of today has changed. We cannot work on the same paradigm and model as we have for the last 10 and 20 years,” she said.

With the Government covering childcare leave costs, businesses may use the increased reimbursement to support covering arrangements, such as by hiring temporary staff or recognising employees who take on additional covering responsibilities, said Indranee.

Going forward, companies should be planning on the assumption that there will be a manpower gap at any given time, rather than the way it is today where “the moment somebody’s taken out, you’re struggling to fill the gap”, she added.

Improved workplace culture and norms benefit not only parents with children but also singles and those married without children by helping them to better balance work and personal responsibilities, including caregiving needs, said Indranee.

The minister said the Marriage and Parenthood Reset Workgroup she chairs will also identify barriers that companies face in facilitating leave-taking, and will develop practical solutions tailored to help different sectors and firms address such barriers.

The workgroup will share its full set of recommendations in early 2027.

In a follow-up question, Poh Li San (Sembawang West) asked if the Government will study how workers who are not parents but who have genuine caregiving needs can be better supported.

Indranee said her workgroup is looking at parent-related policies, but the Government as a whole is looking at caregiving in general, including for seniors.

“It comes back to changing the workplace in recognition of the fact that there will always be a need for somebody to step out,” she said, adding that this would include job redesign, job sharing, and “most importantly”, flexible work arrangements.

While most people think of flexible work arrangements as working from home, the minister said this is a much broader concept that includes flexi-time.

“For example, if you need to take your parent or your child for medical appointment early in the morning, you could either put back the hours later or during lunchtime, or you go back at the same time, but maybe you make it up at home,” she said.

Such arrangements do require employers to have conversations with their employees, as every sector is different.

“You can see the enormity of the task that we have before us, and what we intend to do is to approach it sector by sector, get the trade associations and chambers on board, and work on it using the tripartite model,” Indranee said.

Cassandra Lee (West Coast-Jurong West GRC) asked if the Government would consider publishing a clear set of criteria that employers must meet to be accredited and eligible to display the Made For Families mark, such as expectations on family-friendly workplace practices.

The mark was launched in 2020 by the National Population and Talent Division for organisations to show they provide family-friendly programmes, products or services, though there currently is no defined criteria a firm must meet in order to display it.

Indranee said the Government is actively looking at this, without making it too onerous for employers who are already being asked to change workplace norms and practices.