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Written Answer by Mr Lim Swee Say, Minister for Manpower, to Parliamentary Question on Dependants' Protection Scheme

Employment practices
Notice Paper No. 29 Of 2016 For The Sitting On 29 February 2016
Question No. 26 For Written Answer

MP: Patrick Tay Teck Guan

To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what has been the claims experience of the Dependants' Protection Scheme in the last five years; (b) how many CPF members have opted out of the scheme since its inception and what are their income profiles; (c) whether there are plans to review the scheme so that lower-income Singaporeans are protected in view of its opt-out nature; and (d) whether the scheme can be extended beyond the current age cap of 60 years to 67 years.

Answer
  1. The Dependants’ Protection Scheme (DPS) is a term insurance scheme that mitigates the impact of a loss of future income, in the event of the member’s untimely permanent incapacity or death. It provides his dependants with a sum of money to tide over the initial period. 
  2. In the last five years from 2011-2015, the average number of claims approved under DPS was about 2,800 per year. The corresponding claim amount paid was about $141 million per year. 
  3. On average, less than 1% of eligible CPF members opted out of DPS each year since its inception in 1989. About half of those who opted out were younger members aged 30 and below, and may have done so because they did not have dependants. Of the members who opted out, about 40% were not working, 40% with monthly income of more than $2,000 and remaining 20% with monthly income of less than $2,000.