SINGAPORE — Parents spend between 6 per cent and 15 per cent of household income on pre-school-related out-of-pocket expenses, such as school excursions and graduation concerts, a poll by the People’s Action Party (PAP) Women’s Wing found.

Such expenses have added to the high cost of parenthood, which was the main reason given by most survey respondents for why they were not having another child, Ms Sun Xueling said.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs and National Development added that the PAP Women's Wing now wants that spending level reduced to 5 per cent of household income per child.

They also want an expansion to existing pre-school schemes so that at least 80 per cent of households with pre-schoolers can access full-day childcare within a 10-minute walk of their homes.

Ms Sun was speaking on Tuesday (July 30) during a media briefing at a PAP Community Foundation (PCF) Sparkletots pre-school in Fengshan. A Member of Parliament (MP) for Pasir Ris-Punggol Group Representation Constituency (GRC), she had led a team of six MPs to conduct the study.

Releasing a position paper titled Supporting Parenthood and Young Families on Tuesday, the MPs said that they had polled more than 2,000 respondents in three surveys, and are urging the Government to adopt five recommendations.

This includes removing the age cap for in-vitro fertilisation, boosting inclusiveness for families with special needs children, and finding ways to promote flexible workplace arrangements.

Besides Ms Sun, the other five PAP MPs who did the study are: Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Intan Azura Mokhtar, Tampines GRC MP Cheng Li Hui, Fengshan MP Cheryl Chan, Jurong GRC MP Rahayu Mahzam and Tanjong Pagar GRC MP Joan Pereira. The paper will be submitted to relevant government ministries.

PAYING HIGH PRE-SCHOOL FEES

Ms Sun said: “Even with the subsidies that we see currently, many parents are still paying very high out-of-pocket expenses for pre-school.”

One survey of 1,023 Singaporeans discovered that 70.6 per cent of respondents used their Baby Bonus cash gift — between S$6,000 and S$10,000 — on pre-school fees. Many had also depleted their Child Development Account funds on these fees as well, she noted.

The survey also found that households with less than S$12,000 of combined monthly household income tended to spend between 6 per cent and 15 per cent of their household income on out-of-pocket pre-school expenses for each child. This adds up when the family has several young children, the MPs said.

One respondent commented: “Too many extra curricular activities, eg. excursions, year-end concerts, etc. Spending too much money.” Another said that having to pay for school trips and her child’s graduation photos, for example, cost too much.

When asked to identify their main concerns when deciding whether to have another child, around 58 per cent of the respondents pointed to the cost of raising children, around 22 per cent mentioned work-related factors such as work-life balance and workplace pressures, and 18 per cent said that the decision hinges on the availability of adequate family support.

The survey also detected an “outlier”, Ms Sun said. The respondents earning a household income below S$2,000 said that they spend more than 14.2 per cent of their income on out-of-pocket expenses.

“If you look at the government policies that are available, they can be paying far less,” she said, adding that these families could be choosing a private operator instead of anchor operator pre-schools (AOP) or partner operator pre-schools (POP), which have capped fees.

Right now, one out of every two pre-schoolers has a place in an AOP or POP. In the 2017 National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that by 2023, two-thirds of pre-schoolers will have places in these government or government-supported pre-schools.

The MPs said, though, that this is not enough, suggesting that the target be raised to four out of five instead.

“We want to go beyond that, because we now see pre-school as a necessity. We should see it as how we see general medical services and public housing, which is also at about 80 per cent of the population,” Ms Sun said.

As a sizeable portion of the market are private operators who charge fees above S$1,000 a month, the Government needs to look at how to lower fees further, she added.

Dr Intan said that the paper would send a signal to all childcare operators on helping to curb costs for parents. AOPs, such as the PCF Sparkletots pre-schools, and POPs will have to lead the way in this effort, Ms Sun said.

Dr Intan added: “For example, when you organise visits to enrich outdoor learning, you don’t always have to pay to visit places — there are many open parks, amenities available for free that you can take children to.” 

FLEXIBLE WORK ARRANGEMENTS

As the survey found that a sizeable portion of respondents (22 per cent) said that work-related issues were a concern when entering parenthood, the Women’s Wing MPs pushed for the Manpower Ministry to better track the types of flexible work arrangements provided today, and to find out what type of arrangements are in demand.

About 85 per cent of those surveyed said that having such arrangements could affect their decision to have another child.

Many also talked about workplace culture reasons as an impediment to flexible work schemes, Fengshan MP Cheryl Chan said.

Dr Intan added: “Sometimes, their perception is that when they take on flexible work arrangements, would it reduce their chance of a promotion, and would their co-workers think less of them? So, it is a personal hindrance that they put on themselves.”

By working with employers, employees and unions, the MPs believe that such arrangements can take a more “industry- and job-centric approach”.

Doing so may make it easier to promote flexible work arrangements for some industries and specific positions, through the use of technology, training, or covering existing job scopes with shift work.

Ms Chan said: “What we want to build is an ecosystem, a supportive culture within the workplace… Flexible work arrangements do exist today, but not many workers go for it unless it is a case of an emergency.”

CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

The paper also recommended a broad push for the Government to strengthen inclusion for children with special needs.

On this, MPs pointed to the results of a focus group study and another survey of 294 respondents in June, who ranked the cost of treatments and educational opportunities as their top two concerns.

The survey, targeted at parents of children with special needs, found that 55 per cent of them were satisfied with their child’s education in mainstream pre-schools, while about half of these parents had encountered difficulties while enrolling their children in these pre-schools.

Regardless of income level or subsidies provided, these families also spend a substantial amount on treatments — from S$700 to S$2,000 — for each special needs child. This is on top of what they are required to pay for school or childcare fees, Dr Intan said.

“The cost burden may indeed put a large strain on the families and may impede efforts to develop and improve the child’s abilities,” she said.