'The more children you have, the more leave you will get,' its prime minister said
The Singapore government is expanding the country's childcare leave while shouldering all of the related costs for employers under revised policies aimed at supporting the country's families.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced at his National Day Rally speech on Sunday that the government is increasing childcare leave by tying it to the number of children of working parents.
Under the new policy, every working parent with one child aged 12 and below will get eight childcare leave days, according to Wong.
Those with two children, aged 12 and below, will get 10 days, while working parents with three or more children will get 12 days of childcare leave.
"The more children you have, the more leave you will get," Wong said in his speech.
As an example, Wong said that a working couple with three primary school children will receive 24 days of childcare leave, much higher than the four days that they will get under the current policy.
"When you add it up, the increase is significant," Wong said. "This will give parents more time and much greater flexibility to care for their children."
The prime minister unveiled the expanded childcare leave scheme as he recalled hearing from parents that the current rules are "not enough."
The current scheme grants working parents six days of childcare leave if their youngest child is six years old or below. They get only two days if their youngest child is seven to 12 years old.
"Today, childcare leave is not tied to the number of children you have. It is the same whether you have one child or more," Wong said.
"Many parents tell us this is not enough. Because having more children means greater caregiving responsibilities. And older children still need their parents – the needs are different, but they do not go away. So parents often end up using their own annual leave."
Government to shoulder childcare leave costs
Meanwhile, Wong also announced that the government will be covering the costs of the updated childcare leave policy, revising the previous employer-government shared arrangement.
"I have decided that the Government will cover the cost of all statutory child-related leave, up to the reimbursement limit," the prime minister said. "This will reduce, of course, the financial burden on employers."
And as the government covers the costs, Wong urged employers to be more supportive of working parents.
"I ask all employers to do your part: Support parents in your organisations and give them confidence to take the leave they are entitled to," he said. "Help them settle back into work afterwards. Make sure that becoming a parent never becomes a disadvantage in someone's career."
The updated childcare leave policy is among the proposals of an inter-agency workgroup chaired by Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, aimed at reviewing how the government can better support families.
"The work is still ongoing. We are aiming for more than incremental improvements or changes to individual schemes. We want to make a fundamental shift in how we support families," Wong said.
The updated childcare leave policy comes amid recent expansions to the country's parental leave policy, where working parents get up to 30 weeks of government-paid leave, including 16 weeks of maternity leave, four weeks of paternity leave, and 10 weeks of shared parental leave.
Wong hinted at further expanding these policies, but stressed the need for employers to adjust first before making additional changes.
"Can we go further? I will not rule it out," Wong said. "But these leave arrangements have just been introduced, and employers do need time to adapt. So we will let these changes settle in first."
