Building a Forward–looking Public Service at Public Service Week 2024

           Public Service Week (PSW) 2024 kicked off today with the presentation of 100 Public Sector Transformation (PST) awards to agencies and officers who have demonstrated exemplary efforts in service delivery, innovation and developing themselves and their teams.

2        This year’s PSW theme is “Innovate, Grow, Care – Make a Difference for Tomorrow”. It reflects the Public Service’s resolve to keep improving to deliver better outcomes for Singapore and Singaporeans now and in the future. The Public Service will do this by continuously innovating in our work, growing the skills and competencies of our officers, and providing a caring work environment where our officers can thrive.

3        At the event, Minister-in-charge of the Public Service Mr Chan Chun Sing thanked public officers for their hard work. He highlighted the importance of governing responsively and responsibly, so that Singapore and Singaporeans would continue to thrive not just in the present but also in the future. He called on the Public Service to retain its gumption to break new ground for Singapore. He also called on officers to continually reinvent and reinvest their skills, to enable them to seize new opportunities.

4        Minister Chan also announced enhanced benefits to better support public officers’ well-being and growth. From October 2024 onwards, eligible officers in the Civil Service will receive a $500 annual “FlexiGrow” benefit which can be used flexibly to support officer’s health, well-being and individual growth. In addition, all public officers can benefit from enhanced medical and dental benefits from 1 January 2025 onwards. [See Annex A for details on the enhanced benefits.]

5        To support officers who wish to continue serving Singapore and Singaporeans, the Public Service will also take the lead to raise the retirement and re-employment ages to 64 and 69 respectively from 1 July 2025, one year ahead of the national timeline. This is in recognition that with higher life expectancy, many older officers may wish to stay active, including being meaningfully engaged at work for longer in different ways.

ANNEX A

The following enhanced benefits will be introduced to better support public officers’ well-being and growth.

Introduction of Flexible Benefits

2        To empower officers to take charge of their well-being and growth, the Public Service will introduce “FlexiGrow” from October 2024. This is a new $500 annual benefit that eligible officers can use flexibly to support their health, growth, and well-being, based on their own needs, such as courses for personal development and fitness programmes.

Enhancements to Medical and Dental Benefits

3        After close consultation with the unions, the Public Service will enhance its medical and dental benefits. The enhanced medical and dental benefits will also apply to re-employed officers and Statutory Board employees.

4        Officers currently enjoy outpatient medical subsidies of up to $500 per year, with outpatient expenses at private clinics capped at a $20 subsidy per visit[1]. To better support officers’ healthcare, the per visit cap for outpatient visits to private clinics will be increased to $50 from 1 January 2025. With this, officers eligible for Healthier SG can also better adhere to their personalised health plans with their registered Healthier SG clinic.

5        For dental expenses, officers currently enjoy subsidies of up to $120 per year. This will be increased to $250 from 1 January 2025 to encourage officers to visit a dentist regularly and maintain dental health.

6         We hope that the enhanced medical and dental benefits will encourage officers to proactively manage their health, in line with the national focus on preventive care.

[1] Per-visit caps for visits to public health institutions such as polyclinics do not apply.