Whammy!

My mum's born in 1953. She might be crossed with me because I revealed her age on the internet.

Anyhow, she's unlikely to read this cause really, who gets their mums and dads to read their blog? I'm digressing.....

So being born in 1953 makes her 52 this year. She looks like she's in her 40s still but really, that's besides the point.

She's almost into her retirement phase so she decided to change to a less stressful job a couple of months back. And last month, she got a $50 increment after her probation period.

CPF made some changes this year (as of 1 Jan 2006).

The Board would like to remind CPF members of the following changes to the CPF schemes which will take effect from 1 January 2006. These changes had been announced previously by the Government in 2002 and 2003. The changes are summarised in Annex A for easy reference.

• LOWER CPF CONTRIBUTION RATE
FOR WORKERS AGED ABOVE 50 TO 55

From 1 January 2006, the CPF contribution rate for workers aged above 50 to 55 will be reduced by 3% from the current 30% to 27%. The employer contribution rate will be reduced by 2 percentage points from the current 11% to 9% and the employee contribution rate will be reduced by 1 percentage point from the current 19% to 18%. The reduction will come from the Ordinary Account. Contributions to the Special and Medisave Accounts will remain at 7% and 8% respectively.

The lower employer CPF contribution rate will enhance the wage competitiveness of older workers and help them be more employable. The reduced employee contribution will also help increase the take home pay of older workers. With this reduction, the plan announced in 2003 to achieve a 6% point difference in contribution rate between workers aged above 50 to 55 and younger workers will be completed.

CPF members aged above 50 to 55 who have difficulty meeting the shortfall in their monthly housing instalment as a result of the change in the CPF contribution rate will be allowed to use their Special Account savings to meet the shortfall.

Okay, so her boss already find it cheaper to pay her. Despite the paltry $50 increment. Admittedly, mum's work is rather clerical but it's not something many Singaporeans are willing to do these days.

And recently Ministry of Manpower release news of a new Workfare Bonus Scheme.

The proposed WBS is a cash incentive for older, low-income Singaporean workers who work. It aims to encourage efforts at work and facilitate self-reliance. It is based on the idea that efforts to help low wage workers must reinforce our strong work ethic. The Committee proposes that the WBS be launched if there are budget surpluses, to run for a fixed period.

The Committee has recommended that to qualify for the WBS, a person must be aged 40 years old and above, and earn less than S$1,200 per month. He must have worked for at least 6 months before he can qualify for the Bonus. Details will be announced after the Government has considered the Committee’s recommendations.

The proposed scheme will target workers who need assistance most, in particular those within the bottom 20% of income earners. It includes both employees and the self-employed. The scheme will potentially benefit up to 300,000 Singaporeans.

So now, not only will my mum's female boss be able to better afford the services of my mum, my mum is being "penalised" for getting $50 more than the minimum $1200 to qualify for the Workfare Bonus Scheme.

To make the news harder to swallow.....mum's boss is considered self-employed. So the female boss, being self-employed (it's a family business so although she stays in a landed property with her husband, she draws a monthly pay) collects a pay of $1000 a month. And that means female boss will get the $600 dollars while my mum won't.

The lobang is damn big in this one....