SINGAPORE: In the White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development launched on Monday (Mar 28), the Government proposed doubling the Home Caregiving Grant from S$200 to S$400 for lower-income households.
The grant was launched in October 2019 to offset caregiving prices for these with everlasting reasonable disabilities, and greater than 31,000 people have benefited thus far, stated Parliamentary Secretary for Health Rahayu Mahzam.
“Caregivers are the cornerstone of our society and women tend to shoulder a large part of caregiving responsibilities, sometimes to their own detriment. It is therefore important that we continue to support caregivers in their journey and provide women with the support as necessary,” she stated.
In the Conversations on Singapore Women’s Development, members shared their aspirations for a society the place each women and men play equal roles in caregiving obligations, stated Ms Rahayu.
“They also shared that caregivers typically give a lot of themselves and sometimes have physical, social-emotional and financial challenges. So on this aspect, these are the things that we want to look at to support caregivers.”
The enhanced Home Caregiving Grant will recognise caregivers’ contributions and scale back caregiving prices, with extra assist supplied to the lower-income households, stated Ms Rahayu.
Under the proposal, beneficiaries with month-to-month per capita family revenue of as much as S$1,200 or with no revenue, who reside in a residence with an annual worth of as much as S$13,000, will obtain S$400 a month, up from S$200.
Those with a month-to-month per capita family revenue of between S$1,201 and S$2,800 will obtain S$250, up from S$200.
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The Household Services Scheme, which permits firms to rent extra migrant staff to supply part-time home companies, was made everlasting on Sep 1 final 12 months. To higher help dad and mom and caregivers, the scope of the scheme will probably be widened for staff to supply fundamental child- and elder-minding companies.
PEER SUPPORT
“Beyond providing financial support, (there are) caregivers who also feel stressed and need help in other aspects of their caregiving journey,” stated Ms Rahayu.
“So it is helpful to have like-minded fellow caregivers who can be brought together to create an ecosystem where they could provide a listening ear and share experiences and lend a helping hand to each other.”
The People’s Association, National Council of Social Services and the SGCares volunteer centres will work with social service businesses to kind community-based peer help networks for caregivers, she added.
The Agency for Integrated Care will function a one-stop useful resource on caregiving for seniors and offering help for caregivers, Ms Rahayu famous.
“If we all play a part in providing support to caregivers, families can support those who are caregiving within their families. We also want employers to play their role in giving flexibility to workers who have caregiving requirements,” she added.
“So this is an ongoing effort, something that we will need to continue to work on, and we call on (the) whole of society to play a role in supporting caregivers.”
