For retrenched bread-winner

Retrenched breadwinners can stay on the ComCare Work Support Scheme for up to one year, instead of six months. This supports families with measures such as cash and aid for their children's education.

For poor on public assistance

Starting April, public assistance monthly sums go up by between $30 and $120, depending on household size. For example,an individual who received $330 previously now gets $360,and a household of four who got $830 previously,now gets $950.

For divorced low-income mothers

Divorced low-income mothers with up to two children will be included in the Home Ownership Plus Education (Hope) scheme.

Previously, only intact families qualified. They get incentives including housing grants, training grants,and bursaries for children from pre-school to university.

Help with housing

HDB can reduce or defer mortgage payments for up to six months for home owners facing financial difficulties.

HDB will extend a second concessionary loan to downgraders on a case-by-case basis.

It will introduce 'interim rental housing', which is for those who may need to downgrade urgently but have bought a new flat that has yet to be completed.

HDB will refer such cases to its managing agent, for temporary rental of a room at below market rate, while their smaller flat is being built.

Emotional help

High-risk dysfunctional families will be part of an intensive case management programme. Such families will work closely with a senior social worker who will handle only 10 such families. Currently, social workers handle up to 50 families.

'Touchpoint agencies' like hospitals and schools will be trained to better identify such families and refer them to Community Development Councils and Family Service Centres.

For the children

Families with monthly income of $1,500 or less will get at least 95 per cent in childcare and kindergarten subsidies. This means poor parents can pay as little as $5 a month for kindergarten and $10 a month for childcare.

Primary and secondary school students under the Education Ministry's financial assistance scheme will receive free school uniforms,on top of the free textbooks they currently get. Junior college students will receive a $750 bursary - $250 more than now.

Needy students in tertiary institutions can apply for anew short-term study assistance scheme,which gives them up to $2,060 a year.

Needy university and polytechnic graduates will have a one-year respite from repaying their tuition fees and study loans.

Those who had graduated earlier but are still repaying their loans will also enjoy the 12-month freeze. No interest will be charged on the unpaid amount from 1 Apr to 31 Mar next year.

For the elderly

Under the Lease BuyBack Scheme, flat owners aged 62 and above, and with a household income of $3,000and below, can unlock the value of their flats.

HDB will buy back the remaining flat lease, minus the first 30 years. In return, the lessee gets a $5,000 up front bonus and a lifetime income stream from a CPF Board annuity plan.

For the chronically ill

Medisave can now be used for chronic problems including diabetes and asthma, and this has been extended to include some mental ailments.

But the cap is set at $300 a year per Medisave account. Patients from large families can tap on more than one account to pay for their treatment.

For the middle income

By June, middle-income Singaporeans can tap into their Medisave accounts to pay a larger part of their private hospital bills. The amount they can withdraw for operations will go up, in some cases, by as much as 80 per cent.

Currently, the limits for the full range of operations stretch from $150 to $5,000.The new range is $250 to $7,550.

For employers

Under the Jobs Credit Scheme, for every employee who contributes to CPF, the Government will give the employer 12 per cent of the first $2,500 of the worker's pay. Employers will get the first payment at the end of next month,and the next three payments in June, September and December.

For employees

The Government will open up18,000newpublic sector jobs over the next two years for all levels of employees, including mid-career professionals.

The Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur) has been beefed up to cater to the training needs of 230,000 people in more than 800 courses covering 24 different industries.

The Workforce Development Agency (WDA)has expanded by five times the number of courses covered under Spur, including those in human resource, health care and precision engineering.

To help the professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), WDA will double the number of professional conversion programmes over the coming year to 46. The subsidy rate for PMET courses will be bumped up to 90 per cent, up from 80 per cent currently.

This article was first published in The New Paper.