A new Matched Retirement Savings Scheme will be introduced to help those with less CPF savings, Finance Minister Heng announced in his 2020 Budget Speech.
It will be available from 2021 to 2025, for lower to middle-income Singaporeans aged 55 to 70 who have not been able to set aside their CPF Basic Retirement Sum (BRS). About 435,000 Singaporeans will be eligible.
The Government will be matching every dollar of cash top-up made to their CPF Retirement Account, capped at S$600 annually.
Further support for the elderly comes into play through the Silver Support Scheme, which was set up five years ago to complement CPF.
Heng said the Government will increase its spending on Silver Support by nearly double, from the current S$330 million to around S$620 million in 2021.
Quarterly cash payouts under the scheme will be raised by 20%, while the eligibility criteria will be broadened to cover more seniors.
A new payout tier will also be added to include seniors whose monthly household incomes per person are above S$1,300, but not exceeding S$1,800.
These changes will benefit about 100,000 more seniors in 2021. Eligible seniors will be notified by the CPF Board and start receiving payouts automatically from December 2020.
Featured Image Credit: The Online Citizen
