400,000 households to benefit from CDC Voucher Scheme

With the re-opening of schools and selected activities in Phase One of Post-Circuit Breaker period, the five Mayors together with Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Heng Swee Keat virtually launched the $20 million local community initiative called the Community Development Council (CDC) Vouchers Scheme (社理会生活补助券计划) earlier today on 12 June 2020 at 4pm.

This $20 million grant was announced during the Unity and Resilience Budgets 2020 by DPM to support families with daily expenses during this challenging period.

The CDC Vouchers Scheme is designed to help Singaporean lower-income households defray the cost of living and at the same time, support participating local merchants and hawkers at HDB estates / heartlands. Mayors and Grassroots Advisers have been working with the Merchant and Hawker Associations, to recruit heartland businesses during the past two months. To date, 2,500 merchants and hawkers have signed up.

Under this initiative, each identified household will receive $50.00 worth of CDC vouchers at $2 denomination, redeemable at participating heartland merchant shops and hawker stalls displaying the CDC Voucher Decal.

Up to 400,000 Singaporean households can benefit from this initiative. These notification letters will be mailed out to the identified households by end July. Voucher Collection will be progressively rolled out to ensure safe distancing and to minimise over-crowding as during this period, many national schemes are happening at the Community Clubs / Centres (CCs).

Each identified household must bring along the notification letter and produce any one of the NRIC from the household for verification when he/she collects the vouchers at the designated CCs indicated in the letter. Voucher Collection will begin from 25 June 2020 onwards.

The CDC vouchers are redeemable for food, essential goods and services at participating hawkers and local merchants island-wide from 25 June 2020 onwards. CDC vouchers will expire on 31 December 2020. The CDCs are pleased to partner Government Technology Agency (GovTech) in the use of its SupplyAlly application to facilitate the CDC Vouchers Scheme.

“The CDC Vouchers Scheme and other local efforts are part of a larger suite of support measures to help Singaporeans. The Government has introduced many other measures as part of the enhanced Care and Support package, and created jobs and training opportunities to protect jobs and livelihoods. I am confident that with agencies such as the CDCs working closely with the community and helping the vulnerable groups, we can weather this storm together. Let us continue to stay resilient and united”, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Mr Heng Swee Keat.

“Over the years, the CDCs have played a key part in our society by serving the needy, uplifting lives and strengthening our social resilience. Today, as we face an unprecedented crisis due to the pandemic, this role is more vital than ever and the CDCs will not let up our increased efforts for Singapore. This CDC Vouchers Scheme is a nation-wide local community initiative aimed to bring relief to Singaporean households and recharge hard-hit businesses. Besides helping lower-income families defray the cost of living, the scheme is designed to revitalise local heartland businesses when families use their vouchers in the neighbourhood like at the hawker stalls, coffee shops, provision stores and mom-and-pop shops. In addition, we hope this initiative will draw the local community closer together and build a fresh sense of resilience, solidarity and mutual support among Singaporeans, as we pull our efforts together to get through this crisis”, said Ms Low Yen Ling, Chairman of Mayors’ Committee and Mayor of South West District.