Families to receive $500 Child LifeSG credits for kids aged 12 and below from July 14

Families with Singaporean children aged 12 and below this year will receive $500 in Child LifeSG Credits from July 14, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) announced on Monday (July 13).

This $500 will be automatically deposited into the child's Child Development Account (CDA) if eligible per MSF's records as of June 1, and can be accessed through the LifeSG application.

Recipients will be notified via SMS once the credits are sent to their digital wallet in the application.

The credits can be used to defray household expenses such as groceries, utilities or pharmacy items, MSF stated.

Merchants that utilise PayNow or Nets should also accept usage of these credits.

The ministry also highlighted that SMS notifications sent to parents will only be from "gov.sg", and will only contain information on the disbursement statutes and terms and conditions.

"Trustees will not be asked to reply to the SMS or provide personal information," MSF said, advising CDA trustees to check that the mobile number in their Singpass profile is up to date to receive notifications.

Disbursement of these credits come after Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's Budget 2026 announcement in February this year.

Existing preschool subsidies under the Infant and Childcare Additional Subsidy Scheme and Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme will also be extended to more families with the threshold for monthly household income raised from $12,000 to $15,000, benefiting more than 60,000 families.

The monthly household income threshold for the Student Care Fee Assistance will also be raised from $4,500 to $6,500, PM Wong said.

"Beyond this enhancement, we are undertaking a holistic review of the student care sector to study how to better meet the caregiving needs of families with primary school-aged children," he stated.

[[nid:729819]]

khooyihang@asiaone.com