Mr Speaker, on behalf of the Minister for Social and Family Development, I beg to move, ‘That the Bill be now read a second time.’
- Families are the bedrock of our society. For our children, families are where they first learn the values that shape them, find comfort and strength when they face setbacks and celebrate milestones and achievements together.
- The Government remains committed to supporting both mothers and fathers as they embark on their parenthood journey so that our children can have a good start in life.
- We have been reviewing our policies regularly. Mr Speaker Sir, with your permission, may I please distribute an infographic. As the infographic is being distributed, you will see on the first page, our enhancements of parental leave over the years and on the second page, our comprehensive suite of Marriage and Parenthood measures to support families. Members may also access these materials through the MP@SGPARL app. Members may also access these materials through the MP@SGPARL app.
- Looking at the second page of the infographic, we can see that one week of Government-Paid Paternity Leave and one week of Shared Parental Leave were first introduced by Minister Grace Fu in 2013 as part of the 2013 Marriage and Parenthood Package. To quote from her speech then, “We will signal strongly to the society on the important role fathers play in raising and caring for their children. Fathers will now enjoy 1 week of legislated Government-Paid Paternity Leave. In addition, we will introduce a new Government-Paid Shared Parental Leave. By inculcating shared parental responsibility from birth, we hope to put families off to a good start and encourage fathers to take on a bigger role in child-raising.”
- In 2016, then Senior Minister of State Josephine Teo announced that we would legislate the second week of Government-Paid Paternity Leave and increase Shared Parental Leave from one week to four weeks. These were implemented from 2017 onwards.
- The enhancements were supported by MPs such as MP Desmond Choo who had raised in Parliament in 2016, as to whether the Government would legislate a second week of Government-Paid Paternity Leave and if the Government would increase the Shared Parental Leave so that more leave can be taken on by fathers. Then-MP Mr Seah Kian Peng, now Speaker, had also in 2016 suggested “independent leave for each parent” instead of drawing leave from the mother’s maternity leave. MP Louis Ng in 2017 urged a review of maternity leave and paternity leave and also filed an adjournment motion to extend parental leave.
- It is clear from the progressive enhancements to parental leave that the Government wants to support young parents in their caregiving needs and regularly reviews policies to push the envelope to support young parents even more.
- The COVID period of early 2020 to 2022 up-ended work structures and world economies were plunged into a period of economic uncertainty. Singapore was not spared but we were able to incorporate flexible workplace arrangements and work from home. Young parents and working adults adjusted their working arrangements.
- As we came out of COVID-19, the Government continued its strong support for families by announcing at last year’s Budget, policy enhancements that strengthened financial and work-life support for parents. The Baby Bonus Cash Gift was increased for all birth orders, and we enhanced the Child Development Account First Step Grant and raised Government co-matching caps for Singaporean children born on or after 14 February 2023.
- Since 1 January 2024, we doubled the Government-Paid Paternity Leave to four weeks, with the additional two weeks provided on a voluntary basis. We also increased Unpaid Infant Care Leave to 12 days per parent per year in their child’s first two years.
- The Government regularly engages young parents to see how we can support their parenthood journey. Many parents continue to express concerns with managing family and work responsibilities. Increasingly, we see that younger generations of Singaporeans place greater importance on having a balance between work and personal commitments. They also value more family time even as they build their careers. Our social and work norms are changing and we should, as a society, evolve to support them. This includes working with employers to foster more family-friendly workplaces, so that we can better support parents in their aspirations to do well both at work and in raising their children at the same time.
- In particular, parents have shared that work-life support is especially critical during the child’s first 18 months, when care needs tend to be the greatest. Most parents prefer to personally care for their infants or tap on the help of trusted family members. However, family support is expected to decline as family sizes shrink and many grandparents work longer or prefer to spend their retirement years on other pursuits.
- So we need to provide stronger caregiving support for parents in the early stages of their child’s life and enable them to be more involved in caring for their infants.
- At the National Day Rally in August, PM Wong announced that we will, from 1 April 2025, mandate the additional two weeks of Government-Paid Paternity Leave currently offered on a voluntary basis. He also announced that the current Shared Parental Leave, or SPL in short, will be replaced with a new scheme that will provide couples 10 weeks of paid parental leave, to be shared between themselves. To provide employers more time to adjust to the new scheme, the new Shared Parental Leave will be implemented in two phases, starting with 6 weeks from 1 April 2025, to be subsequently increased to 10 weeks from 1 April 2026.
- With the enhancements, eligible couples will be entitled to 30 weeks of paid parental leave in the child’s first year. This comprises 16 weeks of maternity leave, 4 weeks of paternity leave and 10 weeks of shared parental leave from 1 April 2026. These enhancements are significant steps that the Government is taking to normalise paternal involvement in child-raising and provide both parents with greater support in caring for their infants together. In addition, parents with young children are entitled to Government-Paid Childcare Leave and Extended Childcare Leave for their caregiving needs. Those who might require more time to take care of their newborns can also utilise their Unpaid Infant Care Leave.
- In formulating our parental leave policies, we have studied overseas experiences. Some other countries provide longer durations of parental leave, but at varying levels of pay. For example, in the United Kingdom, parents enjoy longer maternity leave, shorter paternity leave and longer parental leave, but maternity leave and paternity leave are compensated at reduced pay and parental leave is unpaid. Some countries such as the United States do not have paid maternity leave, paternity leave or shared parental leave at all. For Singapore, while the combined duration of our parental leave provisions is shorter, most of it is fully paid. With the leave enhancements in this Bill, we will further extend the duration of paid leave that parents can take to care for their infants.
- In considering Singapore’s leave enhancements, we also engaged parents, consulted Tripartite Partners and employer representatives to ensure that we strike the right balance between parents’ caregiving needs and employers’ manpower and business needs. The Government worked closely with Tripartite Partners to design the new Shared Parental Leave scheme and update the conditions surrounding our parental leave provisions to better address both employees’ and employers’ concerns, which I will go into more detail later.
- The Government is also enhancing other forms of infant care support to complement parental leave. We will continue expanding infant care places in preschools and will develop about 6,000 new places from 2025 to 2029. We are also launching a three-year pilot in December 2024 to grow affordable, safe and reliable childminding services as an additional infant care option for families.
- We hope that these enhancements will provide parents with more assurance as they go ahead with their plans to fulfill their family aspirations.
- The Child Development Co-Savings (Amendment) Bill that is currently before this House seeks to give effect to the enhancements to the Government-Paid Paternity Leave and Shared Parental Leave schemes. We will also introduce new employment protections as well as other operational and administrative changes.
Government-Paid Paternity Leave
- First, the Government-Paid Paternity Leave or GPPL in short. Fathers play an important role in partnering their wives in sharing the duty of raising their children. We want to encourage shared parental responsibility and enable fathers to be more involved in child-raising. Research also shows that greater paternal involvement in a child’s early years has positive effects on the child’s development and family well-being.
- With the additional two weeks of Government-Paid Paternity Leave, we hope that fathers will make good use of the four weeks to care for and bond with their newborns. Clauses 9, 11, 12 set out the main provisions for the enhancement to the Government-Paid Paternity Leave scheme.
- Clause 9 will mandate the additional two weeks of Government-Paid Paternity Leave. These apply to fathers of children born on or after 1 April 2025, or with an Estimated Date of Delivery on or after 1 April 2025, as well as adoptive fathers where the eligibility date of application to adopt a child is on or after 1 April 2025.
- Correspondingly, Clauses 11 and 12 will double the amount of payment that an eligible employee is entitled to receive from his employer, as well as the limits for the reimbursement by the Government to an employer for that payment.
New Shared Parental Leave
- Second, on the new Shared Parental Leave scheme, or SPL in short. This scheme will allow parents to have more time off work to bond with, and care for their infants. We have designed this new scheme such that the additional weeks of legislated parental leave can be taken by both fathers and mothers to emphasise shared parental responsibility. The following clauses set out the main provisions for the new Shared Parental Leave scheme, and the new Shared Parental Leave Benefit, scheme for working parents of a Singapore Citizen child born or with an Estimated Date of Delivery on or after 1 April 2025.
- Clause 6 will entitle working parents who are eligible for Government-Paid Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave and Adoption Leave under the Act, to the new Shared Parental Leave and sets out the requirements for a valid sharing arrangement of the new Shared Parental Leave between two parents. In line with our intent to encourage shared parental responsibility, each parent will be allocated half of the entitlement as the default, which means three weeks per parent from 1 April 2025 or five weeks per parent from 1 April 2026.
- The allocation can be varied according to Clause 23, to provide parents with the flexibility to use the leave in a way that meets their caregiving needs. This flexibility has to be balanced against employers’ need for some certainty of the employee’s intended absences so they can plan for covering arrangements to ensure business continuity. The same clause therefore also provides that parents who wish to change their sharing arrangement on their own, may do so within the first four weeks after their child’s birth, or for an adopted child, within the first four weeks after the eligibility date of application to adopt. Thereafter, employees must obtain their employer’s agreement before further changes can be made.
- Clause 6 will also allow employees and employers to mutually agree on how the new Shared Parental Leave will be taken, as long as it is taken within 12 months of the child’s birth. We understand that some parents may wish to have the flexibility to take this leave over a longer period, however we have to balance this against the challenges that employers may face in their manpower planning if the leave-taking period stretches beyond one year. In the absence of a mutual agreement, employees are entitled to take their allocated share of the new Shared Parental Leave in a continuous block within the first 26 weeks of the child’s birth, with sufficient notice given to their employer. I will share more about the notice period required further in my speech.
- Similarly, Clause 6 will entitle working parents who are eligible for Government-Paid Maternity Benefits, Government-Paid Paternity Benefits and Government-Paid Adoption Benefits to the new Shared Parental Benefits scheme. These cash benefit-equivalent schemes are intended for working parents who do not qualify for leave due to their employment arrangements such as employees on short-term contracts, or contracts that expire before the child’s birth.
- To support employers with managing costs, all 10 weeks of the new Shared Parental Leave will be paid by the Government, up to the reimbursement cap of $2,500 per week. Employers can then use the wage savings to hire temporary workers or make other operational adjustments when their employee is away on parental leave.
- As the new Shared Parental Leave scheme is meant to replace the existing Shared Parental Leave scheme, Clause 8 will amend the eligibility criteria for the existing Shared Parental Leave scheme such that it will no longer apply for a Singapore Citizen child born or with an Estimated Date of Delivery on or after 1 April 2025.
New Notice Period Requirements and Employment Protections
- This brings me to the third aspect of this Bill, new notice period requirements and employment protections, which seek to balance the needs of employers and employees utilising the parental leave schemes.
- With the longer duration of leave, employers will need sufficient lead time to make covering arrangements when their employees are away. Clauses 3, 4, 6 and 9 will introduce a minimum notice period to be given by an employee, who wishes to take leave in a continuous block. This minimum notice period will be set at four weeks. Employees must inform employers at least four weeks before commencing continuous Government Paid Maternity Leave, Government-Paid Paternity Leave, Adoption Leave, and the new Shared Parental Leave. This will give employers lead time to plan for covering arrangements and make operational adjustments. While this is the legislated minimum requirement, I urge employees to exercise responsibility when taking the leave, to provide notice as early as possible, and work through covering arrangements with your peers and employer before you go on leave.
- We will update employment protections to give parents peace of mind when they go on parental leave entitlements. Today, it is unlawful for an employer to dismiss or give a notice of dismissal to a female employee when she is on maternity leave; employers who do so today will be guilty of an offence and be liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment, or both. Clauses 4 and 9, will accord the same protection that mothers on the Government-Paid Maternity Leave have, to fathers and adoptive parents who take Government-Paid Paternity Leave and Adoption Leave from 1 April 2025. This means it will be unlawful for an employer to dismiss or give a notice of dismissal to employees on Government-Paid Paternity Leave or Adoption Leave.
- For the case of the new Shared Parental Leave, we want to strike a balance between providing both parents with a longer period of leave to care for their child in the first year, while allowing employers to carry out fair employment decisions during this extended period of leave. Hence, parents on Shared Parental Leave will not receive the same protection as those on Government-Paid Maternity Leave, Government-Paid Paternity Leave and Adoption Leave. However, employees who consider themselves to be wrongfully dismissed when taking this leave, may seek recourse under the Employment Act. The upcoming Workplace Fairness Legislation will also strengthen protections against workplace discrimination.
- I hope that these new protections will give our parents, including fathers, more assurance to take their maternity, paternity and adoption leave. Beyond legislation, I urge employers to show your support for the employees taking parental leave. For instance, by putting in place fair appraisal systems that recognise their contributions and not penalise employees simply for having taken parental leave. Managers and colleagues can also help to build a more family-friendly culture by being understanding of colleagues who need to take leave to care for their children. On the part of parents, I also encourage you to reciprocate when colleagues need to take time off to tend to their personal needs.
Other administrative amendments
- The other amendments pertain to clauses to improve operational efficiency and clarity.
- Clause 16 of the Bill will clarify that the limits for reimbursement of an employer will be implemented on a “per-parent” basis for a parent with multiple employers, or a parent who is both employed and self-employed. For example, an employee’s payment from a single employer is capped at $2,500 per week and the single employer’s reimbursement from the Government is similarly capped at $2,500 per week. While the parent will still be entitled to parental leave with each of his or her employers, the total reimbursement that all employers of the parent can claim from the Government will be capped at $2,500 per week. This ensures parity on the amount of Government-paid leave granted to all parents, regardless of the number of employments they have. This amendment is also one of the MSF’s corrective actions to address AGO’s observations of possible irregularities in the payment of Government-Paid Leave Schemes in July this year.
- Clause 16 of the Bill will determine that the sequence of leave taking under the Act such that employees are deemed to be consuming their entitlement to Government-Paid Maternity Leave, Government-Paid Paternity Leave or Adoption Leave in full first, before consuming their entitlement for Shared Parental Leave. This is in line with our intent that all employees should consume their Government-Paid Maternity Leave, Government-Paid Paternity Leave or Adoption Leave before commencing the new Shared Parental Leave.
- Clause 2 of the Bill will also clarify that for the adoption of a child who is a Permanent Resident of Singapore, the definition of “eligibility date” in relation to an adoption is the date on which the application to adopt the child is made.
Conclusion
- Sir, the birth of a child marks a new beginning for a couple. It is a joyful but also demanding period for the couple who needs to tend to the high care needs of their infant. We hope the leave enhancements covered in this Bill will give working parents greater peace of mind to focus on caring for their child during their early years.
- We will also continue to enhance other caregiving options to provide more support to parents. However, this role of supporting parents in their parenthood journey cannot be played by the Government alone. Employers, for instance, have to be supportive of their employees, especially fathers, going on parental leave and should implement family-friendly workplaces. This will help employees returning to work post-leave that they can manage their work and parenting responsibilities well.
- Mr Speaker, kindly allow me say a few words in Chinese. 家庭是我们社会的基石。我们希望父母跟孩子们建立良好的关系，为他们的家庭打好基础。不少父母向我们反映，要平衡工作和家庭生活非常具挑战性，特别是在他们孩子婴儿时期。为了更好地支持双薪家庭，我们与劳资政三方紧密合作，推出了新的亲子假。
- 这些新措施是我们这些年来为支持夫妇结婚生子所推出的一系列措施之一。我们希望新的父母共用产假能提供父母更多的帮助，让他们有更多时间陪伴他们的新生儿。我鼓励所有父母，特别是父亲，利用这些额外的亲子假照顾新生儿。我也希望社会各个阶层，包括雇主们，能在社区和工作场所提供在职父母更多的帮助。
- Sir, this Bill will strengthen our support and assurance for Singaporeans on their parenthood journey. I urge more employers, businesses and community partners, to work with us to build a Singapore Made For Families.
- Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move.