New tranche of S$500 CDC vouchers launched by PM Lawrence Wong

SINGAPORE: Singaporean households can now claim and use S$500 (US$380) in Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced on Tuesday (May 13) at Nee Soon South Community Club. 

The CDC vouchers, meant to help households manage cost-of-living challenges, will be divided equally as per previous tranches – S$250 for spending at participating heartland merchants and hawkers, and S$250 for spending at participating supermarkets.

The participating supermarkets are Ang Mo Supermarket, Cold Storage, Giant Singapore, HAO Mart, NTUC FairPrice, Prime Supermarket, Sheng Siong and U Stars Supermarket. 

Similar to the previous rounds, one member of each Singaporean household can visit go.gov.sg/cdcv and log in with their Singpass to claim the digital vouchers.

Once claimed, an SMS from gov.sg will be sent to the registered mobile number, containing a unique voucher link that can be shared among household members. 

Notification letters will not be issued for this tranche of vouchers, but information on the claiming process will be available online, and through newspaper advertisements and community posters. 

Ms Low Yen Ling, Mayor of the South West District, said Singaporeans who still need a physical voucher can get it printed at the community centres. 

"Even as we roll out more rounds, we will not stop looking at how can we continue to improve the process, to make it more hassle-free, to also then help us to evolve to (an) environmentally sustainable approach without compromising the delivery of service."

This tranche of vouchers will be valid until Dec 31, 2025.

Members of the public are urged to exercise caution when claiming CDC vouchers and not to disclose bank log-in details, transfer money or install mobile applications from unofficial app stores, the People's Association (PA) and CDC said. 

Households will receive another S$300 in CDC vouchers in January 2026 for a total of S$800 in vouchers this financial year.

NOT A "ONE-OFF EXERCISE": PM WONG

As announced in the Budget 2025 statement in February, besides the CDC vouchers, all adult Singaporeans will receive SG60 vouchers in July.

Each Singaporean adult will get S$600, while seniors aged 60 and above will receive an additional S$200. 

The SG60 Vouchers can be used at all businesses that accept the CDC Vouchers.

Mr Wong also announced in February that parents with children aged 12 and below will receive LifeSG credits, and those aged 13 to 20 will receive a top-up to their Edusave account or Post-Secondary Education Account. Households will also receive U-Save rebates.

This means that a typical family of four with two young children will receive around S$5,000 in support this financial year, Mr Wong said on Tuesday. 

He added that this is not a "one-off exercise" and the government will provide help for as long as it is needed. 

"We will continue to review and update and strengthen our social support system across different areas – be it housing, healthcare, education or retirement," he said.

"We have started this process recently through Forward Singapore, and we will continue in the coming years. 

"All these updates, changes, improvements to policies, will help to provide Singaporeans with greater assurance through every life stage."

On whether it is sustainable to keep providing vouchers, Mr Wong said this is "a good question to ask" and the government has to ensure its spending is sustainable over the medium to longer term.

"That’s why, earlier in this decade, when we saw that there was a funding gap in public finances, that our finance expenditure was going to go up, but revenues were not sufficient to cover our expenditures, we decided to make tax changes and increase taxes," said the prime minister.

"It was a difficult decision to make. It was certainly not popular, but it was the right thing to do, and it was a responsible thing to do.

"Because we did that, today, we are in a healthy and sound fiscal position, and today we have the resources we need to protect Singaporeans, to shield you from cost of living increases."

Also at the launch of the latest tranche of CDC vouchers were the five mayors - Ms Low, Ms Denise Phua, Mr Desmond Choo, Mr Alex Yam and Mr Mohd Fahmi Aliman. 

As of Monday, about 97.3 per cent of Singaporean households, including new households formed, have claimed the previous tranche of CDC vouchers issued in January, said PA and CDC.

Of the claimed vouchers, more than S$324 million – or 83.4 per cent – has been spent. 

According to Ms Low, about 92 per cent was spent on food and groceries, either from the supermarket chains part of the scheme or minimarts in the heartlands. 

"We look at some of these numbers to tell ourselves whether are we on track, because the whole scheme has been designed from day one to achieve two aims. Number one, to support fellow Singaporeans in deferring the household expenses and to also support them in lowering their daily load," Ms Low said. 

"The second objective, of course, is to support our local heartland merchants and hawkers as well."

Overall, more than S$1.92 billion has been spent since the launch of the CDC vouchers scheme in December 2021. A total of S$1.06 billion was spent at hawkers and heartland merchants while more than S$857 million was spent at supermarkets.

HELP FOR THE DIGITALLY LESS-SAVVY

Singaporeans who face difficulties accessing their digital CDC Vouchers can get help at community centres and SG Digital Community Hubs. 

For a week from Tuesday, more than 200 youth volunteers will be at selected community centres alongside CDC ambassadors. Staff volunteers from public agencies will also join in.

From May 13 to May 26, SG Digital Office’s digital ambassadors and silver infocomm wellness ambassadors will be at community centres to help residents claim their digital vouchers. There will be priority queues for seniors and people with disabilities.

Additional support will be provided for residents without smartphones or those who need help setting up their Singpass accounts or resetting passwords.