Child Development Co-Savings (Baby Bonus) Scheme
Children bring joy to the family. The Baby Bonus Scheme supports parents’ decision to have more children by helping to lighten the financial costs of raising children. It was introduced on 1 April 2001 and enhanced on 1 August 2004. The latest enhancements on 17 August 2008 extended increased benefits to the first and second child and benefits to Singapore citizen children beyond the fourth child.
Cash Gift
You will get a cash gift of up to $4,000 each for your 1st and 2nd child and $6,000 each for your 3rd and 4th child. All your children born on or after 17 August 2008 will also enjoy Government contributions in the form of a dollar-for-dollar matching for the amount of savings you contribute to your child’s Child Development Account (CDA). If your child is born before 17 August 2008, he or she will enjoy the Government matching contributions in the CDA if he or she is your second to fourth child.
Matching Government Contribution in Child Development Account (CDA) for children eligible for Baby Bonus
The CDA is a special savings account that you open at any OCBC Bank or Standard Chartered Bank branch for your child who is eligible for CDA. You can save in the CDA any time until 31 December in the year your child turns 6 years of age. The savings will be matched up to the cap of $6,000 each for the first and second child, $12,000 each for the third and fourth child and $18,000 each for the fifth and subsequent child. The Government will match your savings in the following month.
The savings in the CDA may be used to pay fees for all your children who are attending Approved Institutions registered with MCYS under the Baby Bonus Scheme. These include child care centres, kindergartens & special education schools registered with the Ministry of Education or the Council for Private Education (CPE), and early intervention programmes registered with the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) or the Centre for Enabled Living (CEL). The CDA savings can also be used to purchase MediShield or Medisave-approved private integrated plans for all your children and pay for all your children’s medical-related expenses. These would include consultation fees, treatment fees and prescription costs incurred at healthcare institutions.
Baby Bonus One-Stop Service
To make it more convenient for you to join the Baby Bonus Scheme, a one-stop service is available at the birth registration counters at the hospitals and the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA). The hospitals are Gleneagles Hospital, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Mount Alvernia Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Hospital, National University Hospital, Parkway East Hospital, Raffles Hospital, Singapore General Hospital and Thomson Medical Centre.
Changing Address
Update your official address with ICA to ensure that you receive all Baby Bonus correspondences from MCYS. If you are moving overseas and choose to retain your local address or use the address of your one of your family members or friends, please ensure that the mailbox is checked regularly and our correspondences can be relayed to you promptly.
For more information on Baby Bonus, click here -> FAQ.
