Singapore advances Baby Bonus benefits for eligible families to August 2023

Singaporean families with children eligible for the enhanced Baby Bonus, as announced in the 2023 Budget, will receive these benefits from 1 August 2023, several months ahead of the initially planned timeline in early 2024.

This was jointly confirmed by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD).

The elevated benefits will apply to eligible Singaporean children born on or after 14 February 2023. These include a heightened Baby Bonus Cash Gift, a lengthened payout period, and augmented government contributions to their Child Development Accounts (CDA).

In his Budget speech on 14 February, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong announced a S$3,000 increase to the Baby Bonus Cash Gift for qualifying Singaporean children born from that date onwards. The payout schedule was also altered to provide financial support every six months until the child turns six and a half years old.

The CDA First Step Grant will also see a raise from S$3,000 to S$5,000. The government will increase its co-matching cap by S$1,000 for the first and second child. Under the Baby Bonus Scheme, the government matches parents’ savings in their child’s CDA dollar-for-dollar up to a certain limit.

With these changes, parents of babies born from 14 February this year will receive Baby Bonus Cash Gifts of S$11,000 each for their first and second children, and S$13,000 each for their third and subsequent children.

Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, clarified on Friday that parents of babies born on or after 14 February can anticipate receiving the funds from August, instead of early 2024 as initially planned.

“For parents who have children between 14 February and 31 July, there are about 12,000 of them who are going to benefit from the bringing forward of the CDA First Step Grant. And of course, there’ll be those who have children born after 31 July, those numbers we don’t know,” she said during a visit to local start-up Go!Mama at LaunchPad @ one-north in Ayer Rajah.

The MSF and NPTD provided further details on the payout timeline. A child enrolled in the Baby Bonus Scheme from 1 August will receive their First Step Grant in their CDA within two weeks of account opening. They will also receive government co-matching contributions within two weeks of depositing money into CDAs, excluding public holidays.

There will be a phased approach to disbursement for children enrolled in the scheme from 14 February to 31 July.

Those enrolled between 14 February and 30 June will receive the additional S$2,000 First Step Grant by mid-August. Parents can start saving in the CDA from 1 August and receive government co-matching contributions within two weeks of deposits, excluding public holidays.

Children enrolled between 1 July and 31 July will receive the extra S$2,000 First Step Grant by 1 October. Their parents can also begin saving in the CDA from 1 August, but they might have to wait until 1 October to receive their government co-matching contributions.

Savings made after 1 October will be co-matched within two weeks of deposits, excluding public holidays, according to the MSF and NPTD.

More information about the enhanced Baby Bonus Scheme can be found on the MSF website.