No Plans to Replicate or Scale Up Trial That Gives Money to Low-Income Families With No Strings Attached

It seems like there are no plans for the Government to replicate or scale up a pilot which gave 75 low-income households cash with no strings attached for 18 months.

These low-income families in Singapore received between $300 and $550 a month between May 2022 and November 2023 as part of social service agency Awwa’s (Asian Women’s Welfare Association) Family Empowerment Programme.

In a response to questions from MPs as to whether the project would be studied or expanded, or have similar forms of aid given, Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli explained on 6 Aug that this was because there was no clear evidence that the cash transfers led to longer-term positive effects in areas such as time spent in employment, income security or hours worked.

However, Awwa’s had previously shared that the cash improved participants’ mental health and job security.

Director of family services, Ms Huixia See Toh explained: “Research has shown that individuals in chronic poverty are stuck in a cycle of addressing their own needs and urgent need which affects their cognitive functioning…

“This lack of mental bandwidth and financial resources really reduces their ability to plan and invest for the future.”

The effectiveness of such cash payments is a subject of strong academic debate. The project had also received initial pushback, that “people would not be incentivised to work, or would waste the money”.

Minister Massagos had noted a recent US study which led to the opposite effect hypothesised by Awwa, that unconditional cash transfers led to decreased work hours, with the saved time spent on leisure, rather than upskilling or searching for better jobs.

However, Nanyang Technological University Associate Professor Teo You Yenn has long maintained a critical view of the state’s welfare policy, particularly the narratives that poor people do not work hard or that they make bad decisions.

Moving forward

Nevertheless, the door is not shut on such unconditional transfers as a welfare tool.

Where more empirical data is available, Minister Masagos shared that “we will take these into account as we refine our national programmes like ComCare and ComLink+.”

ComCare supports lower-income households with basic living expenses, whereas ComLink+ provides families with young children additional support on the condition that these families take dedicated steps to improve their situations, pursuant to the action plans that they developed with their dedicated family coach.

With regards AWWA project, Temasek Trust will fund the project’s second round after results passed internal standards on education, skills upgrading and employment.