Under the Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme (SIRS), the Singaporean Ministry of Manpower (MoM) and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) have made a joint statement regarding the allocation of S$360 million that is being paid out to eligible self-employed workers who are suffering from the effects of COVID-19. This is the first of three quarterly payments, of which the remaining two will be made in July and October.
On 27 May, more than 100,000 workers who were automatically eligible for the relief scheme received their first payout of about S$3,000 each. Another 17,000 successful applicants were notified and will be receiving their payment from 29 May onwards.
The SIRS was first introduced in March in an effort to help support self-employed workers survive through this period of uncertainty caused by COVID-19. It is available to those who meet certain criteria including being a Singapore citizen, identifying as a self-employed person no later than 25 March and earning a net trade income of no more than S$100,000 a year.
Those workers who were automatically eligible for the scheme would have been sent a message via SMS notifying them of their eligibility. They would also be receiving a hard-copy letter sometime this week.
Self-employed workers who do not receive any notification by this week are not automatically eligible for the scheme, said the authorities.
The NTUC continues to encourage all self-employed workers to submit their application for the SIRS scheme if they have not already qualified. Those who are successful will receive three payouts, regardless of when they submitted their application, said the authorities, adding that applicants can generally expect to hear from NTUC within a month of submission.
