Singapore details SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme for mid-career workers

Singapore's Ministry of Education and SkillsFuture Singapore on March 4, 2024, set out the details of the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme, a package of training support for citizens aged 40 and above. Its first measure, a credit top-up of S$4,000, was scheduled to start on May 1, 2024.

Under the program, every Singaporean aged 40 or older receives the S$4,000 SkillsFuture Credit (Mid-Career), and younger citizens will get it in the year they turn 40. The credit does not expire and can be spent on about 7,000 selected courses, among them full qualifications at public institutes of higher learning and arts institutions and SkillsFuture Career Transition Programmes. From academic year 2025, people in this age group can also receive subsidies for another publicly funded full-time diploma. A training allowance, due to begin in early 2025, pays half of a person's average income over the previous 12 months, capped at S$3,000 a month, for up to 24 months of selected full-time study.

The agencies also removed the expiry date on a one-off S$500 mid-career credit issued in 2020 and merged the balance with the new top-up. The release called on employers to support mid-career staff who take up training and pointed workers to official reports on skills demand to help them choose courses.