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More funding on re-employment of older workers rolls out in Singapore

Xinhua, May 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

Funding guidelines to encourage employers to put in place age-friendly practices to make work easier, safer and smarter for older workers will soon be introduced as Singapore gets ready to raise re-employment age in 2017, according to a press release by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Wednesday.

Singapore will raise the re-employment age to 67 from the current 65 on July 1, 2017. Under the Retirement and Re-employment Act (RRA), the minimum retirement age is 62 years in the lion city. However, employers are required to offer re-employment to eligible employees who turn 62, up to age 65 under current legislation.

To better prepare employers and employees for this change, the Tripartite Committee on the Employability of Older Workers (Tricom) has issued a set of revised tripartite guidelines on the re-employment of older employees.

The new guidelines include the enhanced WorkPro schemes, which will take effect from July this year. It aims to support the employment and employability of older workers by fostering progressive and age-friendly workplaces and jobs.

Under the schemes, a total of 66 million Singapore dollars (47.96 million U.S. dollars) will be made available to companies over three years. The key enhancements to these schemes for older workers include increased funding support under Job Redesign Grant, with up to 80 percent of project costs, capped at 300,000 Singapore dollars, can be funded under the grant -- twice the level of funding support under the existing grant.

Another enhancement of WorkPro is the Job Redesign Rider. Companies that receive grants under the Capability Development Grant and Inclusive Growth Program can receive additional funding of up to an overall 80 percent cap, net of other grants, if their project makes jobs easier, safer and smarter for their older workers.

As to the current Tripartite Guidelines, two major changes were also made, which requests employers to identify suitable jobs for eligible elder employees as well as offer more portable medical benefits.

"The tripartite partners encourage employers to voluntarily re-employ their employees beyond age 65 before legislation takes effect. Employers with Singaporean workers aged 65 and above will continue to receive an additional wage offset of up to 3 percent till July 1 2017, in addition to the wage offset of up to 8 percent under the Special Employment Credit," MOM added. Endit