Multi-agency effort to encourage Legacy Planning drives significant increase in Lasting Power of Attorney and Advance Care Planning registrations

More Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) and Advance Care Plans (ACPs) have been made since the launch of an inter-agency campaign to encourage legacy planning in July last year. In the last fifteen months, LPAs registered among Singapore citizens aged 50 and above increased from 177,000 to 233,000. Monthly LPA registrations have more than doubled since digitalisation and launch of the campaign.  With the increase, registrations for LPAs are on track to exceed the target of 240,000 for Singaporeans aged 50 and above by end of 2025[1]. Over 50,000 ACPs have been completed to-date, with more than 13,000 additional ACPs made since the launch of the campaign.

2            The campaign, which was organised by the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and Public Service Division (PSD) featured a series of educational videos, roadshows, and mobile clinics held at 12 locations across the island.

3            At an appreciation event held on 25 October 2024 for volunteers and partners for the campaign, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Social and Family Development Mr Eric Chua said, “Since the launch of this multi-agency effort, we have seen an encouraging increase in the number of Lasting Powers of Attorney and Advance Care Plans made. The success is only possible because of the contributions of over 200 partners and volunteers. We will continue to do more to promote the importance of legacy planning and to normalise such conversations among families.”

Expanding outreach to encourage Singaporeans to embark on Legacy Planning through partnerships

4            Over 40 organisations[2], including Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL), healthcare providers and partners from the community, as well as financial management companies had come on board for the first year of the campaign. In addition, 133 student volunteers from the National University of Singapore, Singapore Management University, Singapore University of Social Sciences and Temasek Polytechnic have contributed over 1,000 hours at mobile clinics and roadshows, while 10 community providers and Regional Health Systems have set up booths to educate members of public on the importance of ACP and assisted them with facilitation appointments.

5            Moving forward, there will be greater efforts to encourage Singaporeans to embark on legacy planning, which includes LPA, ACP, CPF nominations and wills. We will support more partners to organise ground-up initiatives to raise awareness and assist Singaporeans in legacy planning. This includes “Train the Trainer” sessions where professionals in the finance industry will be trained to share legacy-planning tools with the general public. Organisations which are interested in organising legacy-planning sessions may get in touch at go.gov.sg/ppcp.

6            To enhance the experience for citizens making LPAs, MSF has worked with Open Government Products to improve the Certificate Issuer (CI) search and booking feature. Citizens can easily check the availability of CIs and fees charged online, and book an appointment immediately. For ACP, Singaporeans can now fill in the online ACP form on My Legacy@LifeSG, before approaching an ACP facilitator to complete the registration.

7            Visit the MyLegacy@LifeSG website at go.gov.sg/planlegacytoday to learn more about legacy planning and take action to give your loved ones the gift of certainty today.

- END -

For media queries, please contact:

Chan Yee Chun

Manager, Communications & Engagement Division

Ministry of Social and Family Development

Chan_Yee_Chun@msf.gov.sg

For queries on ACP, please contact:

acp@aic.sg

About Legacy Planning

In July 2023, a multi-agency campaign was launched to raise awareness and adoption of LPA and ACP. The multi-year effort included the launch of a television commercial, a series of anchor roadshows and mobile clinics across various locations, and collaboration with community partners, volunteers and corporations.

Beyond LPA and ACP, efforts in the coming year will be broadened to highlight the importance of legacy planning in ensuring that citizens’ key decisions and preferences are communicated to their loved ones if they lose mental capacity or pass away. Citizens are encouraged to start legacy planning as soon as possible by making their LPA, ACP and CPF Nominations and writing their wills. These are complementary tools that work together to support an individual’s preferences, empower them, and provide assurance to them and their loved ones on key decisions to be made on their behalf.  The efforts will be aimed at achieving the following objectives:

• Promoting legacy planning as a societal norm: Normalise legacy planning as a common life activity where every citizen makes and reviews their plans when they are young, healthy and capable. The unexpected can happen to anyone at any time, and we encourage everyone to make their wishes known while they still can.

• Strengthening family resilience: Legacy planning is not simply a means to provide certainty; families are encouraged to have open discussions about future care and financial preferences for better support and understanding of what that individual wants.

About My Legacy@LifeSG

My Legacy@LifeSG is an integrated platform where citizens can access information and services about legacy planning such as LPA, ACP, CPF Nomination and will making. It is also the main government channel which supports bereaved kin with information and services about post-death matters such as downloading of the digital death certificate, funeral arrangements and estate settlement. Visit https://mylegacy.life.gov.sg/ for more information.

Annex A

Translation of Key Terms

Number of Lasting Powers of Attorney Registered

Monthly LPA registrations have more than doubled since digitalisation  and launch of the campaign.