The Next Bound of SkillsFuture

A one-off top-up of $500 to the SkillsFuture Credit accounts of all eligible Singapore Citizens was provided on 1 Oct 2020. To encourage Singaporeans to take timely action to upskill and reskill, and be better equipped to seize new career opportunities, this top-up will expire on 31 December 2025.

In 2021, a record number of over 247,000 Singaporeans utilised their SkillsFuture Credit, compared to 188,000 in 2020.

To help individuals make informed training decisions, the digital tools within the MySkillsFuture portal will also be enhanced to provide more customised recommendations on training options.

The capacity of the SkillsFuture Work-Study Programmes will be more than doubled by 2025 to make it a mainstream pathway, with 12% of each cohort going through this pathway. In 2021, around 650 companies participated in the Work-Study Programmes, and 1,700 individuals took up such programmes to gain valuable work and industry experience while pursuing academic and work qualifications.

Eligible employers will receive a one-off $10,000 credit to cover up to 90% of out-of-pocket expenses for supportable enterprise capability development and workforce transformation programmes.

[ENHANCED IN BUDGET 2022] More employers will be eligible for the SFEC with the extension of the coverage to include the qualifying period of 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021. There will also be no minimum Skills Development Levy contribution requirement for this qualifying period.

The Productivity Solutions Grant will be expanded to include job redesign consultancy services.

SSG will work with large anchor companies/SkillsFuture Queen Bee companies to support training for their sectors and value chain partners. We aim to partner up to 40 of such anchor companies/SkillsFuture Queen Bee companies to benefit 4,000 SMEs over the next five years.

About 500 enterprises have benefitted from the efforts of SkillsFuture Queen Bee companies in 2021. 

Supported by SSG, the National Centre of Excellence for Workplace Learning (NACE) was first established by Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP)in 2018 as a collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (SFIVET), and the German Chamber of Industry & Commerce (IHK Akademie). It aims to help companies build and develop their workplace learning capabilities, solutions and systems through training and consultancy projects.

To further accelerate capability building in companies, more centres will be launched at the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), such as the NACE@SIT launched in 2020, and more.

By 2025, we target to help more than 1,200 companies, particularly SMEs, build best practices in workplace learning and work-study capabilities.

The programmes includes the SkillsFuture Career Transition Programme (SCTP) delivered by Continuing Education and Training (CET) centres, Career Conversion Programmes, and sector-specific programmes such as TechSkills Accelerator Company-Led Training for ICT jobs.

The SkillsFuture Career Transition Programme (SCTP) supports mid-career individuals in acquiring industry-relevant skills to improve employability and pivot to new sectors or job roles. It is a train-and-place programme that is available on a part-time or full-time format, ranging from three to 12 months.

The SCTP courses will be progressively rolled out from 1 April 2022 to around 200 courses by 2025.

A special SkillsFuture Credit of $500 was provided to every Singaporean aged 40 to 60 years in 2020. This is over and above the broad-based top-up of $500, and this additional credit can be used for selected reskilling programmes at CET centres. This will expire on 31 December 2025.

[ENHANCED IN BUDGET 2022] The course coverage for Additional SkillsFuture Credit (Mid-Career Support) will expand to around 7,000 courses from May 2022. These include courses with manpower development outcomes offered by CET Centres and programme partners, courses that meet the training requirements for Progressive Wage Model (PWM) sectors, as well as full qualification courses offered by the IHLs and MOE-subsidised full qualification courses at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and LASALLE College of the Arts.

The Government will provide 40% salary support to the employer, for each eligible worker, for six months, capped at $12,000 in total.

With effect from 1 Sep 2020, the hiring incentive has been replaced by the Jobs Growth Incentive. Click on "Learn More" below for details.

A group of volunteer Career Advisors will be assembled from professional communities to provide peer-level support and career guidance to local workers in navigating professional pathways.