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What Forward Singapore means for you as a Caregiver
The Government, employers, and the community each has a role to play in supporting caregivers so that they can balance caregiving with their other responsibilities sustainably.
To this end, the Government recently enhanced the Home Caregiving Grant to further alleviate caregiving expenses. We will continue to study how we can better support caregivers. One way is to expand our system of aged care, so that our seniors can age with dignity and grace. More details are in Chapter 5.
More employers are also introducing workplace support for caregivers, such as providing paid time-off and extending additional healthcare services to employees. We will encourage and promote more of such initiatives by businesses.
We will study suggestions to better support working caregivers as they care for their elderly, ill or disabled family members, through measures such as caregiver leave, flexible work arrangements or other forms of workplace support.
We will create an ecosystem of support for caregivers and improve their access to available resources, such as through caregiver support groups. For example, the Caregivers Alliance Limited offers training programmes and events to connect caregivers to a support network of volunteers, and to reduce the barriers for caregivers in accessing services.
For caregivers of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs)
We will continue to support PwDs and their families across life stages, as set out in the Enabling Masterplan 2030 (EMP2030). This includes doing more to alleviate their financial burden, in particular to increase the affordability of early intervention, education and care services for families with children with developmental and special educational needs in the medium term.
Out-of-pocket expenses for families with a child with developmental and special educational needs are typically higher due to the costs of additional interventions and the higher fees. We will provide additional support for these children by defraying their families’ out-of-pocket costs for early intervention services, Special Education schools, and Special Student Care Centres.
We are deepening support for students with Special Educational Needs, in both mainstream and Special Education schools, as well as our Institutes of Higher Learning. We have been providing more resourcing and staff training in our mainstream schools and Institutes of Higher Learning, and will also strengthen the professional development of educators in Special Education schools. We will elaborate more on how we, as a society, can better support persons with disabilities and their families in Chapters 4 and Chapter 6.
Update on Enabling Masterplan 2030
Launched in August 2022, the EMP2030 sets out the vision for Singapore to be an inclusive society in 2030, where PwDs are enabled to participate and contribute fully to our society. The Government will work towards this goal by partnering the people and private sectors to implement all recommendations of the EMP2030.
We have made progress across the EMP2030’s three Strategic Themes:
1) Strengthening support for PwDs’ lifelong learning in a fast-changing economy
The first Enabling Business Hub (EBH) will be launched by end 2023. The EBH will help more PwDs join the workforce by collaborating with employers and industry associations to showcase inclusive hiring practices and help businesses implement these practices. The EBH will also bring jobs closer to where PwDs live and match them to suitable employers in the region based on the PwDs’ skills.
2) Enabling more PwDs to live independently
The first Enabling Services Hub (ESH) was launched in August 2023. The ESH will develop a stronger ecosystem of support for PwDs in the community with its befriending services, social recreational activities, and courses. Through collaborations with community partners, such as People’s Association, SG Cares Volunteer Centres, and CaringSG Limited, PwDs and others in the community will be able to participate in activities together, nurturing a more inclusive culture in the neighbourhood.
3) Creating physical and social environments that are more inclusive to PwDs
Plans are on track to install 24/7 on-demand audible traffic signals at 325 pedestrian crossings by end 2024. These will be in 10 town centres that have higher proportions of residents with visual impairment. The enhanced crossings will enable persons with visual impairment to navigate their journeys independently.
Building legislation amendments were introduced in June 2023 to accelerate accessibility upgrading in buildings. Owners of commercial and institution buildings that lack barrier-free access will have to provide basic accessibility features whenever additional alteration works are carried out in the buildings.
The Government has collaborated with the College of Family Physicians Singapore to offer a Family Practice Skills Course for general practitioners, which equips them in caring for persons with intellectual disabilities. A Community Integrated Health Team has also been piloted in partnership with a social service agency and a specialist outreach team from the Institute of Mental Health. These multi-disciplinary teams offer home- or community-based care for persons with intellectual disabilities who have complex health needs, as well as their caregivers.
Find out more about the support for caregivers at the Together, for Better website
Download reports
Download Forward SG Summary Booklet [PDF, 4.6 MB]
(In English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil)