The Government will spend up to an additional 60 per cent on average per person with disabilities over the next five years, under recommendations released on Sunday, 4 October, by the Taskforce on Assurance for Families with Persons with Disabilities. The Ministry of Social and Family Development released the report, which is built around three shifts: planning ahead rather than reacting, steadier employment, and fuller community life.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced the taskforce in December 2025. It is led by Senior Minister of State Goh Pei Ming with Rahayu Mahzam, Eric Chua, Shawn Huang and Syed Harun Alhabsyi, and has been meeting caregivers, SPED schools, employers and service providers since January.
A one-stop employment office and a single grant
On jobs, SG Enable will set up an Employment Support Office as one touchpoint for persons with disabilities looking for career advice, placement and upskilling, and for employers trying to redesign jobs. It is expected to be fully operational in the second half of 2027.
Employers will also see their paperwork cut. Existing funding will be folded into a single Enabling Employment Grant from the first half of 2027, covering a wider range of workplace accommodations, in-house training, inclusive courses and in-house job coaches.
The Manpower Ministry will enhance the Enabling Employment Credit from 2027 by raising the income ceiling and increasing the size and duration of the temporary wage offset, with more help for hiring people who have been out of work for a long time. A new Supported-Enterprise Enabling Grant, for firms where a large share of staff have moderate support needs, is due later this year.
SG Enable’s 95 per cent course fee grant will be extended to eligible courses run by providers accredited by the Skills and Workforce Development Agency, with the first batch ready by the first half of 2027.
From SPED school to the next stage
The taskforce found families struggle most at transitions, particularly after a child leaves a SPED school. From 2027, MSF and SG Enable will progressively bring in Future Care Planning across adult disability services, building on the Individual Transition Plans that SPED schools already draw up.
The Education Ministry will add more work exposure and soft-skills training in SPED schools, ITE and the polytechnics, along with more targeted career guidance.
More places, hubs and polyclinic support
Day Activity Centres and Sheltered Workshops will add 2,300 places by 2030, and will gradually become Enabling Skills Centres running a new Enabling Skills for Life programme. Nine more Enabling Services Hubs will open by 2028, taking the total to 12.
On healthcare, frontline polyclinic staff will be trained from 2027 to support patients with intellectual disabilities and autism. A Health Communication Passport, which records a patient’s communication and support needs, will start at selected polyclinics. The Health Ministry will designate at least three polyclinics by 2028, one in each public healthcare cluster, offering longer consultations and pre-visit preparation for those with higher needs.
Queenstown and Marine Parade will pilot neighbourhood-level inclusion programmes with grassroots groups.
