Medisave top-ups to be made easier for self-employed
From early next year, the Government will take the lead in helping self-employed people make small, regular contributions to their Medisave accounts instead of a yearly lump sum.
The Government, as service buyers, will start doing it in the first quarter of next year and iron out any issues, before private companies and other organisations come on board.
This is part of a slew of initiatives for workers, including self-employed and part-time workers, announced by Manpower Minister Josephine Teo in Parliament yesterday, during the debate on her ministry's budget.
She said the new "contribute as you earn" scheme will help to overcome the difficulty some self-employed people face in making a contribution to their Medisave accounts on an annual basis.
For example, a 37-year-old with a net trade income of $65,000 in 2017 would have to contribute 9 per cent of his pay to Medisave, or $5,850, she noted.
Mrs Teo was replying to Mr Chen Show Mao (Aljunied GRC) and Nominated MP Walter Theseira, both of whom had asked how the CPF system can better enable self-employed people to save for their retirement and healthcare needs.
To help the workers, Mrs Teo said her ministry introduced the Tripartite Standard on Contracting with a self-employed person last year to reduce payment disputes. Almost 500 businesses have adopted it, covering 30,000 such workers.
The ministry has also worked with tripartite partners and agencies of various sectors to give them access to technical skills training, and is collaborating with insurers to introduce prolonged medical leave insurance products to them.
The Career Trial, which helps job seekers and employers to know each other better before committing to a role, will be extended to include part-timers.
Last year, the scheme found jobs for about 730 people.
To help workers gain new skills, the Professional Conversion Programmes (PCPs) will be revamped and ramped up to be more effective.
There are more than 100 PCPs in over 30 sectors. Last year, almost 5,000 people were re-skilled and employed through PCPs, an annual rise of more than 30 per cent.
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