By MP for Aljunied GRC, Muhamad Faisal bin Abdul Manap
[Delivered in Committee of Supply on 12 March 2015]
I would like to highlight two issues that I have raised several times before, the first being the need to enhance competitiveness of the social service sector by ensuring our social service professionals are paid a salary that is commensurate to the hard work that they do. The second is that more resources should be disbursed to our Social Service Providers to ensure they are well-equipped to carry out their work.
In 2012, the Ministry set a target of an 8% average increase in wages in the social service sector and up to 15% wage increase for social workers. The government also provided assurance that salary increases would continue periodically as the Ministry conducts regular benchmarking of social service sector pay to similar jobs in the market.
I would like to seek an update from the Minister on the current salary scheme of social service professionals, in particular:
- Since 2012, how many government-funded VWOs have raised staff wages by an average of 8% [as opposed to a median increase of 8% which the Minister reported in 2013];
- How many social workers have seen a 15% wage increase since 2012;
- Will the Ministry provide details on the benchmarking exercise that has been conducted since 2012, in particular: which jobs have the ministry used as benchmarks and why; what is the wage differential between social work and these other jobs; has the wage differential narrowed over the past 3 years, and if so, by how much?
In addition, I would like to ask that the Ministry enhance its funding and support to Social Service Providers. Social Service Providers are the intermediaries between the government and citizens. As such it is important for Social Service Providers to receive adequate funding and support. On this, I would like to ask how much has been done by MSF in recent years in enhancing the funding and support to Social Services.