FAMILIES on the dole are going to get more money from the Public Assistance (PA) scheme, starting in July .
The increase is as much as $165 a month for a family of four, which will boost their allowance to $1,020.

For a person living alone, the extra is $40, raising the grant to $330 a month.

This new level of help is among five major initiatives announced yesterday to give poor, distressed and dysfunctional families more help and to strengthen the family unit.

• Giving financial aid up to 12 months to families whose breadwinners are unable to work temporarily.
• Raising childcare subsidies for children of poor families as well as subsidising their nursery school fees.
• Setting up a new inter-ministry committee to identify at-risk families and ways to help them.
• Lifting the minimum age for marriage for Muslim couples from 16 to 18 later this year.

The announcements were made by two ministers in Parliament during the debate on the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports' (MCYS) budget.

They are Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, who heads the ministry, and Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, who is also Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs.

Dr Yaacob, citing the rising divorce rate among Muslim couples, said that the move to raise the minimum age for marriage was made in consultation with community leaders and the Government.

Statistics show that marriages among the under-21s are twice as likely to end in divorce in the first 10 years of marriage, compared to marriages among adult persons, he said.

'(This is) probably because their young age and lower educational levels do not give them a stable start to married life,' he added.

Dr Balakrishnan, in announcing the extra help for the needy, underlined the Government's commitment to making Singapore a great place for families and children.

'Our children are our future...many of you have appealed for more investments in early childhood development,' he said, in response to at least 13 MPs.

Many wanted more to be done to get children out of the poverty trap.

The MCYS plans to spend $168 million on poor families in the coming financial year, $20.6 million more than the previous year.

Besides giving extra to the 3,000 existing PA recipients, it will let more down-and-out people on board the scheme.

These include elderly folk whose children cannot provide for them while supporting their own families on a household income of below $1,000 a month.

Those facing temporary hardship due to illness or having to care for a family member will get help with their rent, utilities and medical expenses.

Before, they were helped on a case-by-case basis.

The subsidy for nursery fees is up to 90 per cent, capped at a maximum of $65.

At childcare centres, it is up to $20 more a month. Some families could end up paying just $10 a month but on the condition that both parents are willing to work, said Dr Balakrishnan.

The monthly income ceiling for these subsidies has also been raised from $1,500 to $1,800 to let more qualify.

As for dysfunctional families, the Government is looking at measures like letting divorced women stay on a home ownership scheme usually open only to married couples.

It is to prevent cases of 'vulnerable' women remarrying for financial security, and then being abandoned.

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