Sustained Support from Absentee Payroll through 2021

The Singapore government has been encouraging companies to adopt transformation and encourage resiliency through upskilling to adapt to the changing landscape. There are many funding support for different schemes, one of the most far reaching schemes that benefits corporates are the enhanced absentee payroll which was introduced in May 2020.

The enhanced absentee payroll increased the absentee payroll cap amount from $4.50/hour for non SME and $7.50/hour for SME to $10.00/hour till end 2020. This scheme together with the various calibrated support packages help saves jobs as companies adopt a "Re-train not Re-trench" approach in anticipation for the upturn. ODC was able to support many organisations to save jobs through online training with the enhanced absentee payroll.

From 2021, through the Enhanced absentee payroll would be adjusted lower as follows :

From 1 Jan 2021, the enhanced Absentee Payroll funding rate will be revised to 80% of hourly basic salary capped at $7.50/hour, for employers in all sectors. This will apply to all courses that are eligible for absentee payroll funding today. This is lowered from the current enhanced AP rate of 90% of hourly basic salary, capped at $10/hour, in line with the easing of Government support as the economy recovers. The AP rate from 1 Jan 2021 to 30 June 2021 remains higher than the pre-COVID rates for some companies.

(Source : https://www.ssg.gov.sg/ETSP_EnhancedAP.html)

Overall, the changes can be summarised in the table below :

This extended support provided higher Absentee Payroll subsidies for employees sponsored by Non-SMEs companies for training compared to normal absentee payroll rates .

This information would be useful for the planning of your training plans, and if you are looking for Skillsfuture courses, you can refer the following links to check out ODC's WSQ courses : https://www.odctraining.com.sg/wsq-lpm-odc

To check out the source of the information, click here