Written Reply by Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen to Parliamentary Question on NS Training (DIRECT) Scheme

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: To ask the Minister for Defence in respect of the Direct Reimbursement to Employers of Claims for NS Training (DIRECT) scheme, (a) what is the percentage of serving NSmen whose employers are currently enrolled in the scheme; (b) what are the challenges which discourage more employers from using the scheme; and (c) whether the Ministry will enhance the scheme to increase the take-up rate from employers. 

Minister for Defence, Dr Ng Eng Hen: MINDEF initiated and promoted the Direct Reimbursement Scheme to employers, so that their NS employees can continue to draw salaries while performing NS call-ups. MINDEF would subsequently reimburse these employers. Today, 45 percent of employers are on the DIRECT scheme - an increase of 7 percentage points over the past three years. 

MINDEF will continue to improve this and other schemes to make it easier and faster for NSmen to receive their Make-Up Pay claims. In March this year, the Make-up Pay e-Service was integrated with the Singapore Corporate Access, or CorpPass, which is a corporate digital identity for employers to transact securely with government agencies online. Employers with CorpPass no longer need to have a third officer when submitting claims on the DIRECT scheme. We encourage employers to register with the DIRECT scheme using NS Portal, which helps streamline their Make-up Pay processes for national servicemen employees.