Special Needs Trust Company (SNTC) is a non-profit trust company set up to provide trust services for persons with disabilities. Case managers from SNTC will work with the family to develop a care plan that provides for the well-being of the person with disability in areas such as accommodation and daily living. SNTC will assist parents or caregivers to set up a Trust account to manage and disburse monies to meet the needs of their children with disability. Parents can also tap on the Special Needs Savings Scheme which allows them to set aside Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings for the long term care of their children with special needs upon their demise.
I. Care Plan
SNTC assists caregivers with the holistic needs assessment of their loved one with disability. A Care Plan drawing up possible alternative care arrangements and the financial requirements are worked out for the person with disability in the event the primary caregiver is no longer able to provide the care and support. SNTC reviews the Care Plan with the caregiver and updates it to capture the changing needs of the person with disability for whom the plan has been drawn up.
II. Trust Services
A Trust is a legal relationship in which an individual or institution (known as the Trustee) holds assets, subject to a legal obligation to keep or use the assets for the benefit of another (known as the Beneficiary).
A minimum sum of $5,000 is required to set up the SNTC Trust for persons with disability. Caregivers can top-up the trust fund anytime. They can gift the proceeds from their property by will and nominate their insurance policy as well as CPF savings to the SNTC Trust.
The Public Trustee holds and invests the Trust funds with principal guaranteed by the Government. The SNTC Trust is activated upon the caregiver's demise or incapacity as the main caregiver.
III. Special Needs Savings Scheme (SNSS)
The Special Needs Savings Scheme (SNSS) encourages parents of children with special needs to save up for their long-term care needs. Under this scheme, parents can nominate their children to receive monthly disbursements from the parent’s CPF savings after the parent’s demise.
For More Info
MSF initiated a pilot in March 2015 with the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled in Singapore (MINDS) to simplify the process to apply for deputyship for young adults with severe intellectual disability.
The pilot, supported by the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law (NUS Law), involved 10 MINDS students from its current graduating cohort (aged 18) whose parents were seeking to be appointed as deputies for their children.
To reduce the cost of application, students from NUS Law, psychologists and social workers from MINDS school and HQ helped these parents to complete the Court documents and provide the necessary supporting documents. This led to significant time and cost savings - each pair of parents paid an average of $250 for their application as compared to what may otherwise cost about $5,000. The application also becomes less time-consuming as parents can now work off basic document guides or template forms for their applications.
MSF is also working actively with the Family Justice Courts to simplify the process of deputyship applications in general. Thus far, the Courts have provided standard templates for key documents such as medical reports and affidavits, so that individuals can fill them in more easily on their own.
For more information, read the Straits Times article "Just $250 to seek deputy powers" and our Frequently Asked Questions below.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can my child who is a current student of MINDS (but not graduating this year) benefit from the simplified process?
The simplified process will be extended to benefit more MINDS students. Your child will be able to benefit from the initiative in the year he graduates. For now, if you are the legal guardian of your child, you are still able to make decisions on his or her behalf until he/she turns 21 years old.
2. Can my child who is part of the graduating cohort of MINDS benefit from the simplified process?
For the current pilot, MINDS has selected students with straightforward applications –
i.e. the family relationships are stable and both parents were supportive of the arrangements. The simplified process will be extended to the rest of the graduating cohort in MINDS with straightforward applications.
3. Can my child who has already graduated from MINDS benefit from the simplified process?
The pilot project is currently offered to current graduating students of MINDS, as they are still in school
and their mental capacity can be assessed as part of routine evaluations.
MSF is also working with the Courts to ease the process of deputyship applications to benefit individuals with severe ID who have left the school, such as through simplifying the forms and rules.
4. Will this initiative be extended to children in other special education (SPED) schools? If so, when will this happen?
MSF is exploring if similar projects to simplify the deputyship application
processes could be extended to other SPED schools. However, as the pilot has not concluded, it is still early days to determine how the initiative can be extended.
5. Can my relative or friend who is mentally incapacitated / unwell / disabled join the pilot?
The pilot project caters specifically to current graduating students of MINDS SPED schools who were
born with severe intellectual disability. If you require assistance with deputyship applications for your relative or friend, you may wish to engage a lawyer or approach the Legal Aid Bureau. For general advice on deputyship matters,
you may wish to approach the Law Society’s Community Legal Ceinics or one of the other free legal clinics in Singapore. More information on the legal clinics is available at the website of the Law Society’s Pro Bono
Services Office https://www.lawsocprobono.org/Pages/Our-Services.aspx.
The Caregivers Training Grant (CTG) helps caregivers defray the cost of attending training to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills that would enhance their ability to care for and manage persons with disabilities.
For information on the eligibility criteria and how to apply, please visit the Agency for Integrated Care's (AIC) website.
The Home Caregiving Grant (HCG) has replaced the Foreign Domestic Worker (FDW) Grant from October 2019.
The HCG is an assistance scheme that is intended to help families to care for their loved ones with moderate to severe disabilities. Eligible families may receive a monthly grant payment of $250 - $400. The grant can be used to defray the costs of caregiving expenses, such as the cost of caregiver support services in the community, or hiring of a Migrant Domestic Worker (MDW).
For information on the eligibility criteria and how to apply, please visit the Agency for Integrated Care's (AIC) website.
The scheme enables families who employ full-time Migrant Domestic Workers (MDW) to look after their loved ones with disabilities to pay a lower monthly MDW levy of $60 (instead of $300).
For information on the eligibility criteria and how to apply, please visit the Agency for Integrated Care's (AIC) website.