Wide range of support available for bigger families

We refer to Ms Tan Chu Quan’s letter “Let bigger families employ more maids” (March 7).

The Government recognises the challenges of households with childcare needs.

The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) is working to increase the number of government-supported, full-day pre-school places to expand access to affordable and quality pre-schools.

Households with young children can consider services such as pre-schools offering full-day infant care and childcare, or ECDA’s childminding pilot for infants, to supplement their caregiving needs.

Households can also hire migrant domestic workers (MDWs) to care for their young children. To avoid over-reliance on foreign manpower, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) regulates the number of MDWs that a household can hire. 

In assessing applications to hire MDWs, MOM considers the household’s caregiving needs and its ability to provide for the upkeep of the MDWs including healthcare, food and acceptable accommodation. Households can hire up to two MDWs while applications for subsequent MDWs will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. 

To further support households, MOM grants levy concessions to households with caregiving needs. Such households may qualify for levy concession at $60 per month per MDW, for up to two MDWs, instead of paying $300 in monthly levy for the first MDW and $450 for the second MDW. A similar concession applies for confinement nannies. 

We thank Ms Tan for her suggestions. 

Doris Kuek
Director, Foreign Manpower Management Policy
Workplace Policy and Strategy Division
Ministry of Manpower