The Covid-19 hasn’t just ravaged people’s bodies, it’s also equally damaging to people’s wallets.
Malls and shop owners are seeing lesser businesses.
Companies are going into cost-cutting mode and everyone’s now tightening their belts, worried for their jobs.
The government understands this, which is why shortly after the first financial package came out, they introduced a second support package: The Resilience Package.
Which is great and all, but there’s just one problem: it takes time to get help.
The government understands that as well, which is why they came out with the Temporary Relief Fund to dispense immediate help to Singaporeans in need.
The fund will give affected low- to middle-income Singaporeans $500 to support their basic living expenses.
Applications started from 1 Apr 2020 and will remain open for the entire month.
Thousands Of Applications For Temporary Relief Fund
On 1 Apr 2020, Today Online went to the various community centres (cc) and social services centres run by the Ministry of Social & Family (MSF) and found snaking queues.
Thousands of Singaporeans affected by Covid-19 has turned up to apply for assistance from the fund.
As of 3pm on the first day of applications, MSF has received 3,500 applications. They said they’ll require one to three days to process the application.
S’poreans Who Applied Has Massive Drop in Incomes
Among the people they spoke to, one is a Grab driver who saw earnings drop by 75%.
Another is a public relations worker at a nightclub who lost his income after nightclubs were ordered to shut their doors.
An air steward was also applying for the fund, citing a drop of 60% in his income.
However, these people are the lucky ones as there are those who need the money but might not be able to get help.
Unable To Prove Their Words
In order to be eligible for the temporary relief fund, you must prove that you have suffered a drop in income of at least 30% and not be on ComCare assistance.
And in order to prove that you have a drop in income, you must be able to submit relevant documents, like your bank statement.
According to Mr Zainal Sapari, Member of Parliament for Pasir Ris-Punggol Group Representation Constituency, he had some residents who are unable to get the $500 assistance.
There are those who are self-employed and have home businesses. While they can claim that business orders have dropped, it can be quite hard to prove.
There are also those who work casual jobs and while they can claim that there are fewer jobs, it’s hard to prove as well.
The key, he said, is how the authorities can verify if what they’re saying is true and offer timely assistance.
But It Doesn’t Mean It’s The End Of The Road For Them
If you remember, the government has been focusing their efforts on not just the heavily-affected industries (like F&B, hospitality, aviation), but the self-employed and freelancers in Singapore earlier on.
There are other options for them besides the temporary relief fund.
For example, unemployed people who are finding it hard to get jobs can apply for the Covid-19 Support Grant provided by MSF.
People who successfully applied can get $800 per month for the next three months but they must commit to employment and training support from Workforce Singapore and the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i).
You can find out more here.
Eligible self-employed people can also get $1,000 a month under the Self-Employed Income Relief Scheme (sirs). As for those who are not automatically enrolled, they can apply for it as well.
You can find out more here.
There’s also a scheme for freelancers and self-employed people where they can apply for training courses with NTUC and be paid $7.50 per hour.
There are also temporary jobs that Singaporeans can look to apply for with pay ranging from $1,700 to $5,000.
Just make sure not to quit your job for it because they’re designed to last less than a year, yeah?
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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