Ever since Workfare came into being, there had been a lot of criticism from Singaporeans. Now I have to add my voice to it.
I know someone who earned about $800 a month. The way Workfare work is that if he managed to find work for 3 straight months, he is entitled for the Workfare. Seem easy enough right? It used to be, but not now.
According to him, his Workfare didn’t come in this month and when he called the CPF, he was told he is now considered a self-employed person. Why? The CPF say he is a self-employed person because he has a bus-driver vocational license. As he only speaks mandarin, I thought he made a mistake. I don’t have the exact numbers but there must be at least 50,000-60,000 people in Singapore who has a taxi or bus license, surely the CPF can’t consider all of them to be self-employed!
So I made a call on his behalf to CPF. Ho and behold, he was right! The CPF do consider him a self-employed person because of his bus-driver vocational license. In fact I was told he had to go to LTA and get a letter from LTA stating he is not self-employed.
That is just weird. How is LTA supposed to do that? LTA is in charge of roads and stuff like that; how are they supposed to know a man’s employment history? What’s even stranger is that this guy I know can’t own a bus. Buses can only be owned by a company or business in Singapore, it cannot be under a person’s name. So even if he is using his bus license, he can’t be self-employed because he cannot own a bus! He must be working for someone.
Why does the CPF think that just because a guy has a bus license, he is a self-employed? I know of many people who get a taxi or bus license as a “just in case” policy. They get it, they renew it, but they don’t use it. Are they ALL self-employed?
That’s insane! Why is the CPF making it so difficult for people to get Workfare, a scheme that isn’t really well-loved in the first place! Who in the CPF thought up this special insane new rule? The CPF should get rid of this new rule as well as the genius who thought it up.
5 comments:
I am not surprise.
This govt would rather let 10 people starve than one free loader. The Singapore govt is very much a Theory X group - it only sees the dark side of things, most probably because it always operates in the dark!
What Singaporeans need is a reason behind this new rule. It's so stupid that it makes no sense. Why this rule now and how is LTA supposed to know if a guy is self-employed or not? These questions need answers!
Hi, did your friend become not self-employed from CPF? What LTA say? It seems like if one is to hold a vocational license (although never use it at all), CPF will make/rate you as a self employed person forever.
You have to go to LTA Sin Ming and get a letter from them. If I remember correctly, they require a payslip from you to prove you are working somewhere along with your NRIC. If you do not have a payslip, they need some proof of employment. Hope that help.
If a person is not working at all (unemployed/housewife...) and not driving bus/taxi, will he still always be registered as self employed in CPF as long as the person is holding a vocational license? Can he become non self employed?
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