1. The National Council of Social Service (NCSS) will establish a new $15 million Protection Practitioners Care Fund (“Care Fund”) from 1 February 2026 to help social service agencies (SSAs) build more supportive work environments. This Care Fund was mentioned by the Minister for Social Services Integration, Mr Desmond Lee, in Parliament on 5 November 2025.
2. Protection work comes with a heavy emotional burden. Protection practitioners are regularly exposed to trauma during the course of their work and face distinctive pressures in dealing with urgent and high-risk cases daily. We thank SSAs such as Montfort Care, TRANS Family Services, Allkin Singapore, and Casa Raudha, who shared ideas to support their protection practitioners, such as psychological support, retreat programmes, and structured mentorship. These have helped to shape the design of the Care Fund, which is expected to benefit over 1,000 protection practitioners.
3. SSAs can apply to the Care Fund from 1 February 2026 by visiting NCSS’s website. The full eligibility criteria can be found in Annex A.
ISSUED BY
MINISTRY OF SOCIAL AND FAMILY DEVELOPMENT
AND NATIONAL COUNCIL OF SOCIAL SERVICE