Retirement and Re-Employment (Amendment) Bill 2021 and CPF (Amendment) Bill 2021

1. The Retirement and Re-Employment (Amendment) Bill 2021 and CPF (Amendment) Bill 2021 support older Singaporeans who wish to continue working to do so and better prepare them for retirement through:
   
   
   1. Stipulating that the Minister for Manpower can prescribe a Retirement Age and Re-Employment Age of up to 65 and 70 respectively, in line with the recommendations made by the Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers in 2019. The Retirement Age and Re-Employment age will be raised to 63 and 68 respectively on 1 July 2022.
      
      
   2. Making it easier for members to prepare for retirement

    

2. The key policy-related changes in the Bills are outlined below.

   
   (A) Increasing the Retirement Age and Re-Employment Age to 65 and 70 respectively by 2030
   
   

3. Currently, the Retirement and Re-Employment Ages are 62 and 67 respectively. In 2019, the Government accepted the Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers’ recommendations to raise the Retirement and Re-Employment Ages to 65 and 70 respectively by 2030. This will support older workers to continue working for longer if they wish to do so and improve their retirement adequacy.
   
   
4. To give effect to the Workgroup’s recommendations, the Retirement and Re-Employment (Amendment) Bill stipulates that the Minister for Manpower can prescribe a Retirement Age and Re-Employment Age of up to 65 and 70 respectively. As agreed by the Workgroup, the first shifts of the Retirement Age to 63 and Re-Employment Age to 68 will take effect from 1 Jul 2022, while the timing of subsequent shifts will be subject to tripartite partners’ agreement.
   
   
5. There are no changes to CPF withdrawal ages.
     
   
6. For more information, please visit www.go.gov.sg/seniorworkers-support.

   
   (B) Making it easier for members to prepare for retirement
   
   

7. The CPF (Amendment) Bill seeks to:
   
   
   1. Make it easier for members to receive retirement payouts. Currently, Retirement Sum Scheme (RSS) members who have depleted their Retirement Account (RA) savings can only continue receiving payouts if they apply to transfer their Ordinary Account (OA) or Special Account (SA) monies (if any) to their RA. To ensure no disruption to their payouts, we will automatically disburse OA and SA savings to members when they have used up their RA savings instead. This will benefit 83,000 RSS members upon implementation in the first quarter of 2022.
      
      
      1. There are no changes to current CPF withdrawal rules.  
         
         
   2. Simplify the rules of the Retirement Sum Topping-Up (RSTU) and Voluntary Contributions to MediSave Account (VC-MA) schemes. For example, the following changes will apply from 1 Jan 2022:
      
      
      1. To align rules for both schemes, tax relief for VC-MA will be provided to givers, instead of recipients
         
         
      2. A higher combined tax relief cap¹ for VC-MA and RSTU schemes set at $8,000² 
         
         
      3. Members can refer to Basic Healthcare Sum to determine the VC-MA top up limit. They no longer have to check the Annual Limit.
         
         
   3. Streamline CPF system We will streamline the administration of CPF schemes to increase the efficiency for our members. For example, the CPF Act will be amended to allow rightful claimants to receive CPF bequests more easily and quickly.
      
      
   4. For more information, please visit cpf.gov.sg/CPFAA.