Parliamentary Reply by Minister Indranee Rajah on Enhanced Childcare Leave and Workplace Support

FIFTEENTH PARLIAMENT OF SINGAPORE

ORAL REPLY

THURSDAY, 10 September 2026

Mr Low Wu Yang Andre:

To ask the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) when the announced expanded childcare leave will commence; (b) how the Ministry will monitor take-up rates by (i) parent, sector and firm size and (ii) adverse employment outcomes following leave; and (c) whether the Ministry will publish these outcomes regularly.

Ms Poh Li San:

To ask the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance whether the Government will evaluate the impact of the additional childcare leave policy on the wider workforce after implementation, including to evaluate employees who are not eligible for childcare leave, especially those who have caregiving duties for elderly parents.

Mr Lee Hong Chuang:

To ask the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance whether (a) whether the Ministry has conducted studies on the challenges employers face in managing operations when employees take childcare leave; and (b) if so, how will these challenges be addressed when implementing the announced increase in childcare leave.

Ms Cassandra Lee:

To ask the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance given that the “Made for Families” mark enables companies to identify themselves as championing family values, whether the Ministry will consider publishing a clear set of criteria that employers must meet to be accredited and eligible to display the mark, including expectations relating to family-friendly workplace practices and norms in the workplace.

Ms Indranee Rajah (for the Prime Minister):

Mr Speaker, may I have your permission to answer the Parliamentary Questions filed by Mr Andre Low, Ms Poh Li San, Mr Lee Hong Chuang and Ms Cassandra Lee in today’s Order Paper together.

As announced by the Prime Minister at the National Day Rally, the Government will enhance child-related leave, financial support, caregiving and housing measures to provide greater confidence and assurance to Singaporeans in starting and raising families. These enhancements are the first set of recommendations from the Marriage and Parenthood (M&P) Reset Workgroup.

Parents have asked when the Childcare Leave (CCL) enhancements will take effect. This will take some time. Legislative amendments are required, and we are working with our tripartite partners on the implementation details. We also need to give employers time to manage the operational impact of the CCL enhancements. We will share more details by early next year.

We hear employers’ concerns about the operational challenges of implementing the increased CCL, as well as the impact on the rest of the wider workforce. As announced, the Government will reimburse employers for the full duration of all child-related leave, up to a cap. Employers may use this increased reimbursement to support covering arrangements, including by hiring temporary staff or recognising employees who take on additional covering responsibilities. We are also studying ways to better support companies with backfilling arrangements. The longer-term solution to this issue is for workplaces to recognise and accept that leave for caregiving needs, such as parental leave, is now part and parcel of normal HR policy and for them to plan and design their workplace norms and practices around this. This would include job redesign, flexible work arrangements, short-term covering arrangements and where appropriate, AI and automation.

All employees, not only parents with children, but also singles and married persons without children will benefit from improved workplace culture and norms that help them to better balance work and personal responsibilities, including caregiving needs. To this end, we are working with employers, tripartite partners and other stakeholders to foster work-life friendly practices and will study Ms Cassandra Lee’s suggestion for an accreditation mark to recognise work-life friendly workplaces. Specific to CCL, we track CCL take-up rates among parents, which are based on employer claims, and publish them annually in MSF’s Family Trends Report. We will also identify barriers companies face in facilitating leave-taking to develop practical solutions that are tailored to the needs of different sectors and firms to address these.

The Workgroup will share its full set of recommendations in early 2027.