WAIVER OF MAID LEVY

WAIVER OF MAID LEVY:

(Families looking after the elderly): 4.

Mr Laurence Wee Yoke Thong asked the Minister for Manpower whether the Government will consider reducing or waiving the maid levy for families looking after the frail elderly so that more families can afford maids in the care of the elderly.

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Mr Hawazi Daipi (for the Minister for Manpower): Mr Speaker, Sir, since August 2004, families with members aged 65 and above have enjoyed a concessionary foreign domestic worker levy, which is currently $170 a month. This is significantly less than the regular levy of $265. Today, close to 38,000 families who have elderly household members and employ foreign domestic workers pay the concessionary levy. We do not see the need to further reduce the concessionary levy for now.

Foreign domestic workers are not the only care option available to seniors and family caregivers. For example, there is a network of 22 day care centres island wide, providing care for the elderly when family care givers are at work. Besides trained care staff, day care centres also provide opportunities for social interaction and group activities which can enhance the quality of life for the elderly. Day care centres run by the voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) charge fees starting from $300 a month. Means-tested subsidies are available to help low-income families. Elderly who prefer to stay at home can also choose to tap on home-help services, such as meal delivery, personal hygiene care and housekeeping. For example, daily meal delivery costs about $200 a month. Similar means-tested subsidies are available to help low-income families.

In addition, the Government supports training in basic care giving skills for informal caregivers, including family members and foreign domestic workers. Families can tap on MCYS' care giver training grant which is administered by the Centre for Enable Living to offset the cost of such training.

Mr Laurence Wee Yoke Thong (Nominated Member): Sir, I have two supplementary questions. As families get smaller, the burden falls on one or two children to look after their frail elderly

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parents. This cohort of children or generation may also fall into what is known as sandwich generation caring for their young as well. Getting a maid for the frail elderly is better than placing them in a nursing home if health or medical conditions permit. Older people prefer to continue living with their families and in familiar surroundings. Thus, by waiving the levy on the maids looking after frail elderly for families with less than $5,000 household income, more families can afford to even look after grandparents and give them a better quality of life in their twilight years and, more importantly, to help them age gracefully.

Sir, my supplementary question, notwithstanding the reply, is whether the Government would consider the matter again at an opportune time in the future. Also, can the waiver of maid levy be extended to parents of handicapped children as well?

Mr Hawazi Daipi: Sir, the answer is never a no-no. We can consider all proposals in the future as the population changes. But for the moment, I think it is not necessary to further reduce the levy because the current system works. As I mentioned earlier, 38,000 households are already benefiting from the reduced levy for foreign domestic workers. Let me remind the House again that foreign domestic worker levy is meant to manage the number and the flow of domestic workers into Singapore. Already we have more than 100,000 foreign domestic workers in Singapore and we will have to learn to manage the number, while we acknowledge the needs of families who may have elderly or young children.

I would also like to remind the House that employing foreign domestic workers is not the only option available. And I mentioned earlier, MCYS has a scheme to help train care givers, and there are a lot of subsidies and support given by the

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Government to help families manage their elderly at home, including meal delivery.

On handicapped children – generally, we have reduced levy for families with children below 12. If the handicapped child is below 12 years old, the family can benefit if the family wants to employ a foreign domestic worker.