Dictionary: EIPIC · EIPIC-P · ECDA · MOE · SPED FAS · SNSS · SNTC · CareShield Life · SG Enable
Stage one: diagnosis and early intervention, birth to six
If your child has just been diagnosed and is under six, the money you are most likely to get is a subsidy on early intervention fees.
The Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children (EIPIC) is the government’s early intervention programme for children from birth to six who need early intervention support. The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) runs it, and when parents ask ECDA whether the fees are subsidised, its own answer is that “Subsidies for EI programme sessions are separately funded under the EI subsidy scheme”. In plain words, the government pays part of the monthly fees, and what your family pays is set by ECDA’s fee matrix rather than by one national price.
So ask for the number in writing before you accept a place, and ask your child’s social worker rather than a stranger online. Our page on EIPIC in Singapore covers what the programme is and how a place is taken up, and EIPIC vs DS-Plus vs DS-LS sorts the three early intervention tiers by how much support your child needs.
Two more things belong to this stage.
MediSave can pay for part of an autism assessment and for therapy your child needs, drawn from your own CPF account rather than from the government. Our page on MediSave for autism sets out which services count.
The Assistive Technology Fund (ATF) pays for equipment rather than for a programme: up to 90 per cent of the cost, with a lifetime cap of S$40,000 (SG Enable, as of September 2026). That is the fund for a wheelchair, a hearing aid, a communication device or therapy equipment. Because the cap is for life, pace the claims to the years your child actually needs new equipment.
Stage two: the school years, seven to eighteen
The money question at this stage is school fees, and the answer is a waiver rather than a monthly payment.
The Special Education Financial Assistance Scheme (SPED FAS) is MOE’s scheme for families at government-funded SPED schools. MOE raised the income limits on its financial assistance schemes from Academic Year 2026: a Singapore Citizen family now meets the income test with a gross household income of S$4,000 a month or less, or S$1,000 a month or less for each person in the household. The limits were S$3,000 and S$750 before that (MOE press release, 16 October 2025).
If you meet the income test, MOE’s own release prints “100% fee subsidies (no change)” as one of the provisions its school schemes carry from Academic Year 2026, alongside free textbooks and uniforms. That release publishes no monthly SPED school fee, so ask the school office which fees it waives for your child, and what your child would pay in a mainstream school instead. What each SPED school charges a month is on our SPED school fees page, and the scheme itself is explained at SPED FAS in the dictionary.
The Assistive Technology Fund does not stop at seven. A school-age child’s equipment needs change more often, and the fund is the same fund, with the same S$40,000 lifetime cap.
If your child is waiting for an EIPIC-P place, that is the sibling programme for children with more significant needs, and new referrals were paused from 1 June 2026 with a reopening expected in the fourth quarter of that year. Our page on the EIPIC-P referral pause explains what the pause does to a child who is already enrolled, referred or on the waitlist.
Stage three: after eighteen, and the long term
Two schemes matter here, and they do completely different jobs. One pays you monthly. The other holds money in a trust for your child, for as long as they need it.
The Special Needs Savings Scheme (SNSS) takes money from your own CPF savings and pays it back to your child every month, at a minimum of S$250 a month per nominated child and for a minimum of one year (CPF Board, as of August 2026). It is set aside while your child is young, so the money is there when they need it as an adult. The mechanics, including who can nominate and when the money is released, are on our Special Needs Savings Scheme page.
The Special Needs Trust Company (SNTC) is the trust route. A trust holds money for a person with a disability and pays it out to meet that person’s needs, which is what a family does when a lump sum would not last. SNTC became a wholly owned subsidiary of SG Enable on 1 April 2025, and SG Enable administers SNSS on SNTC’s behalf. Our page on special needs trusts in Singapore covers when a trust is the right tool, and future care planning covers the planning around it.
MediSave carries on after eighteen for the care your child still needs, and CareShield Life is the insurance scheme that covers some of that care after a hospital stay.
The money for the person who does the caring
Every amount in this section is as of October 2026. Two of the four pay for the person doing the caring: the Home Caregiving Grant in cash each month, and the Caregivers Training Grant for training. The levy concession cuts a bill you would otherwise pay, and the Pioneer Generation scheme pays the older relative with the disability. All amounts are handled by the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), the agency that coordinates care services in Singapore.
The Home Caregiving Grant (HCG) is the one most families mean when they ask about this. You qualify if you are a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident, your household income per person is S$4,800 a month or less, and the person you care for permanently needs help with at least three of six everyday activities. It pays S$600, S$400 or S$200 a month depending on your household income per person, and on how many properties you own.
| Household income per person, a month | Grant paid, a month |
|---|---|
| S$0 to S$1,500 | S$600 |
| S$1,501 to S$3,600 | S$400 |
| S$3,601 to S$4,800 | S$200 |
If you own more than one property, the grant is paid at the S$200 rate.
The payment rate is set by income, not by how much care is needed, so a family caring for someone with more needs can sit in the same band as a family caring for someone with fewer.
The other three are smaller, quicker or narrower.
The Caregivers Training Grant pays for training: S$400 in the first year a care recipient uses it, then a S$200 top-up every 1 April, with a total cap of S$400. It is money for the caregiver to learn the skills the caring role asks for.
The Foreign Domestic Worker Levy Concession for Persons with Disabilities cuts the monthly levy you pay when you employ a migrant domestic worker from S$300 to S$60, and a household can hold up to two concessions.
The Pioneer Generation Disability Assistance Scheme pays a flat S$100 a month to the Pioneer it is for, which is the person with the disability rather than the person doing the caring.
What changes for caregivers in 2027
On 4 September 2026 the Minister for Health told the Home Nursing Foundation’s caregiving conference that the eligibility criteria for all four of those caregiver schemes will widen “from 2027”, so that a person with an intellectual disability or autism whose care needs the everyday-activities test misses can still qualify. The minister was clear that the detailed criteria are not out yet: the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) “will come up with more details”. Two more things were announced on the same day, eight Caregiver Support Touchpoints from 2027, and a common caregiver training framework in early 2027.
- The Minister for Health announces that four caregiver schemes will widen, from 2027, to cover care needs the everyday-activities test misses. MSF to publish the details.
- 2027 The four schemes take the new eligibility route: the Home Caregiving Grant, the levy concession, the Caregivers Training Grant and the Pioneer Generation Disability Assistance Scheme.
- 2027 Eight aged care service providers and Enabling Services Hubs are equipped with Caregiver Support Touchpoints, local points a caregiver can walk into.
- Early 2027 A common caregiver training framework starts, with training organised around what a caregiver needs at each stage.
Until MSF publishes those criteria, apply under today’s rules. The four schemes are on AIC’s pages: Home Caregiving Grant, Caregivers Training Grant, levy concession and Pioneer Generation Disability Assistance Scheme. The minister’s own words are in the speech of 4 September 2026, so you can read it rather than a summary of it.
The tax relief most parents miss
Tax reliefs sit with IRAS, a different agency from the schemes above, so they do not appear on a scheme’s own page. This one is also the easiest money to miss, because it is claimed at tax time rather than applied for.
The Child Relief (Disability) is worth S$7,500 for each child with a disability for the Year of Assessment 2026. IRAS renamed it: the relief older pages call the Handicapped Child Relief now has that new name. You claim it for a child instead of the ordinary Qualifying Child Relief, which is worth S$4,000. The relief can be shared between spouses, and it combines with the Working Mother’s Child Relief up to a cap of S$50,000 for that child.
How to apply, in four steps
Four steps, and the first one is the only one you can do without anyone else.
- Write down your child’s age and your household income per person. Those two numbers decide which schemes on this page are worth an application.
- Start with the scheme that pays the most for your child’s stage, and add the others once that one is moving. Four applications nobody opens help you less than one that gets moved.
- Ask the social worker, therapist or school officer who already knows your child to start it. They see the form most weeks.
- If nobody in your child’s life is helping you apply, contact SG Enable, and browse the Enabling Guide when you want to see what else exists. SG Enable processes applications for the Assistive Technology Fund, the equipment money on this page, and its own page says it takes up to 15 working days to process a complete application. It is the first stop for a family holding the form alone.
Questions parents ask
Is there a monthly grant for caregivers of an autistic child?
Yes, and it pays the caregiver, not the child. The Home Caregiving Grant pays S$600, S$400 or S$200 a month to the person doing the caring, in three income bands. At the moment it needs the person you care for permanently to need help with at least three of six everyday activities. From 2027, a new eligibility route is announced for people with an intellectual disability or autism whose care needs that test misses. It is not open yet.
How much do I pay for EIPIC after the subsidy?
This page does not print a monthly fee, and that is deliberate. ECDA funds the sessions under its own subsidy scheme, and the figure your family pays comes out of ECDA’s fee matrix rather than off this page. Ask your child’s centre for the number in writing before you accept a place, and take it to your social worker if it does not sit right.
Can I get help with SPED school fees?
Yes. SPED FAS is the Ministry of Education’s scheme for families at government-funded SPED schools. From Academic Year 2026 the income test is a gross household income of S$4,000 a month or less, or S$1,000 a month or less for each person in the household. Ask the school office which fees it waives, and see our SPED school fees page for what a place costs before any waiver.
How do I set aside money for my child for after I am gone?
Two routes, doing opposite jobs. SNSS moves money from your own CPF savings to your child every month, at a minimum of S$250 a month. A trust through the Special Needs Trust Company holds money and releases it to meet your child’s needs, for as long as they need it. Both are set up while your child is young. Our future care planning guide walks through the choice.
The one thing to do next
Write down your child’s age and your household income per person. Then ask the social worker or therapist already working with your child to start with the scheme that pays the most for that stage, and add the others once that one is moving.
If nobody is helping you apply, that is the case SG Enable exists for. Contact them before you spend another evening on forms.
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