Child Development Co-Savings Act 2001

Child Development Co-Savings Act 2001 2020 REVISED EDITION This revised edition incorporates all amendments up to and including 1 December 2021 and comes into operation on 31 December 2021 An Act to encourage married persons in Singapore to have more children, to facilitate the provision of cash grants and the making of financial provision for the development of children, to enable financial provision to be made for children of parents who have been granted a divorce, a judicial separation or an annulment of marriage, and for matters connected therewith. [13/2011] [1 April 2001] PART 1 PRELIMINARY Short title 1. This Act is the Child Development Co-Savings Act 2001. [13/2011] Interpretation 2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires — “adoptive father” includes a man who — (a) applies to adopt a child in accordance with any written law relating to the adoption of children; or (b) has obtained a dependant’s pass for a child whom he intends to adopt in accordance with any written law relating to the adoption of children; “adoptive mother” includes a woman who — (a) applies to adopt a child in accordance with any written law relating to the adoption of children; or (b) has obtained a dependant’s pass for a child whom she intends to adopt in accordance with any written law relating to the adoption of children; “approved person” means a person approved by the Minister as an approved person under the regulations made under section 7; “April 2025 Scheme child” means — (a) a child born alive and whose mother’s confinement in respect of the child occurs on or after 1 April 2025, or occurs before 1 April 2025 but the estimated delivery date for that confinement is on or after that date; or (b) a child in respect of whom the eligibility date of the application to adopt the child is on or after 1 April 2025; [Act 46 of 2024 wef 01/04/2025] “bank account” means a bank account opened under the regulations made under section 3; “benefit period”, in relation to a female employee to whom subsection (1), (1A) or (1B) of section 9 applies, means the period that she is entitled under the applicable subsection to receive payment from her employer at her gross rate of pay; “confinement” means the delivery of one or more children (including a stillborn child) from one pregnancy; “dependant’s pass”, in relation to a child, means a dependant’s pass issued in respect of the child under regulations made under the Immigration Act 1959 to enable the child to remain, or to enter and remain, in Singapore for the purposes of adoption under the Adoption of Children Act 2022 or any corresponding previous written law, and includes a document evidencing that the application for the dependant’s pass has been approved; [Act 20 of 2022 wef 15/10/2024] “Director” means a public officer appointed by the Minister for the purposes of administering any provision of this Act; “eligibility date”, in relation to an application to adopt a child in accordance with any written law relating to the adoption of children, means — (a) if the child is a citizen or permanent resident of Singapore, the date on which the application to adopt the child is made; or [Act 46 of 2024 wef 01/04/2025] (b) if the child is not a citizen or permanent resident of Singapore, the date on which a dependant’s pass is issued in respect of the child; [Act 46 of 2024 wef 01/04/2025] “employed outside Singapore” means employed outside Singapore under a contract of service with an employer outside Singapore; “employee” means any person who has entered into or works under a contract of service with an employer in Singapore, and includes a workman as defined in the Employment Act 1968 and any officer or employee of the Government; “employer” means any person who employs another person under a contract of service and includes — (a) the Government; (b) any statutory authority; (c) the duly authorised agent or manager of the employer; and (d) the person who owns or who is carrying on or is for the time being responsible for the management of the profession, business, trade or work in which the employee is engaged; “estimated delivery date” means the estimated delivery date of a child as certified by a medical practitioner; “gross rate of pay” means the total amount of money (including allowances) to which an employee is entitled under the employee’s contract of service, either for working for a period of time (that is, for an hour, a day, a week or a month, or for any other period, that may be stated or implied in the contract of service) or for each completed piece or task of work, but does not include any of the following: (a) additional payments by way of overtime payments; (b) additional payments by way of bonus payments or annual wage supplements; (c) any sum paid to the employee to reimburse the employee for special expenses incurred by the employee in the course of the employee’s employment; (d) productivity incentive payments; (e) travelling, food or housing allowances; “January 2024 Scheme child” means — (a) a child born alive and whose mother’s confinement in respect of the child occurs on or after 1 January 2024, or occurs before 1 January 2024 but the estimated delivery date for that confinement is on or after that date; or (b) a child in respect of whom the eligibility date of the application to adopt the child is on or after 1 January 2024; [Act 46 of 2024 wef 01/04/2025] “lost income”, in relation to a period during which a self‑employed man or self‑employed woman ceased to be actively engaged in his or her trade, business, profession or vocation, means the income that he or she would otherwise have derived from that trade, business, profession or vocation had he or she continued to be actively engaged in that trade, business, profession or vocation during that period; “medical practitioner” means a medical practitioner registered under the Medical Registration Act 1997; “member” means a member of the Scheme; “natural father”, in relation to a child, includes a person who is identified in the registration of the birth of the child as the father of the child; “parent”, in relation to a child, includes a legal guardian of the child; “part-time employee” has the meaning given by section 66A(1) of the Employment Act 1968; “personal representative” means the executor (original or by representation) or administrator for the time being of a deceased person; “platform operator” has the meaning given by section 4 of the Platform Workers Act 2024; [Act 30 of 2024 wef 01/01/2025] “productivity incentive payment” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Employment Act 1968; “PSE account” has the meaning given by the Education Endowment and Savings Schemes Act 1992; “Scheme” means the Child Development Co-Savings Scheme established by the regulations made under section 3; “self-employed man” means any man resident in Singapore who engages in or carries on any trade, business, profession or vocation other than employment under a contract of service and derives income from that trade, business, profession or vocation, or any other man declared by the Minister to be a self‑employed man for the purposes of this Act; “self‑employed outside Singapore” means engaged in, or carrying on, any trade, business, profession or vocation other than employment under a contract of service, and deriving income from that trade, business, profession or vocation, while resident outside Singapore; “self-employed woman” means any woman resident in Singapore who engages in or carries on any trade, business, profession or vocation other than employment under a contract of service and derives income from that trade, business, profession or vocation or any other woman declared by the Minister to be a self‑employed woman for the purposes of this Act; “specified event”, in relation to a woman, means — (a) the woman’s confinement; (b) the making of an application by the woman to adopt a child in accordance with any written law relating to the adoption of children, if — (i) the woman is not the child’s natural mother; and (ii) at the time of the application, the child — (A) is below 12 months of age; and (B) is a citizen or permanent resident of Singapore; [Act 46 of 2024 wef 01/04/2025] (c) the issue of a dependant’s pass in respect of a child whom the woman intends to adopt in accordance with any written law relating to the adoption of children, if — (i) the woman is not the child’s natural mother; and (ii) at the time the dependant’s pass is issued, the child — (A) is below 12 months of age; and (B) is not a citizen or permanent resident of Singapore; [Act 46 of 2024 wef 01/04/2025] (d) the adoption of a child by the woman under any foreign law relating to the adoption of children, if — (i) the woman is not the child’s natural mother; and (ii) at the time of the adoption, the child is below 12 months of age; “stillborn child” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 2021; [Act 19 of 2021 wef 29/05/2022] “weekly index”, in relation to a male or female employee or a self‑employed man or self‑employed woman, means his or her number of work days per week determined in accordance with the First Schedule. [42/2004; 9/2007; 52/2007; 28/2008; 13/2011; 12/2013; 33/2016; 19/2021] [Act 46 of 2024 wef 01/04/2025] (1A) To avoid doubt, for the purposes of this Act, a platform worker (within the meaning given by section 5(1) of the Platform Workers Act 2024) is to be regarded as a person who engages in or carries on a trade, business, profession or vocation other than employment under a contract of service and derives income from that trade, business, profession or vocation. [Act 30 of 2024 wef 01/01/2025] (2) For the purpose of determining whether a woman’s specified event (called in this subsection the relevant specified event) is the woman’s first, second, third or subsequent specified event — (a) if the relevant specified event occurs before 1 November 2021, any previous specified event of the woman is to be disregarded if, at the time of the relevant specified event, either of the following applies to each child from the previous specified event: (i) the child is dead or was a stillborn child; (ii) the child has been adopted by another person (other than jointly with the woman); (aa) if the relevant specified event occurs on or after 1 November 2021, any previous specified event of the woman is to be disregarded if, at the time of the relevant specified event, each child from that previous specified event has been adopted by another person (other than jointly with the woman); and (b) any previous specified event involving an application by the woman to adopt a child is to be disregarded if, at the time of the relevant specified event, the application has been withdrawn or refused. [33/2016; 19/2021] (2A) In reckoning the age of a person for the purposes of this Act — (a) the person is taken to have attained a particular age expressed in years on the relevant anniversary of the person’s birth; (b) a reference to the anniversary of the birth of the person in paragraph (a) is a reference to the day on which the anniversary occurs; and (c) where a person was born on 29 February in any year, then, in any subsequent year that is not a leap year, the anniversary of that person’s birth is taken to be 28 February in that subsequent year. [19/2021] (2B) In reckoning the period of — (a) a person’s entitlement under this Act to leave or to be absent from work; or (b) a person’s cessation of active engagement in any trade, business, profession or vocation for which the person is entitled to claim lost income under this Act, the period ceases on and excludes the day of the person’s death. [19/2021] (2C) In this Act, a reference to any entitlement of a person to any payment or reimbursement under Part 3 (excluding any entitlement under section 12B, 12C, 12CA or 12D) includes a reference to that entitlement where modified by section 12MA in relation to a parent described in section 12MA(1) or any employer of that parent. [Act 46 of 2024 wef 01/04/2025] (3) The Minister may, by order in the Gazette, amend the First or Second Schedule. [55/2018] [Act 46 of 2024 wef 01/04/2025] (4) The Minister may, in an order under subsection (3), make any provisions of a saving or transitional nature consequent to the enactment of that order that the Minister may consider necessary or expedient. [55/2018]