The Singapore government has launched an ambitious new initiative under the ambit of the 2025 national budget to empower families in the digital age. This Smart Family Bonus intends to grant parents up to S$3,600 worth of digital and educational perks to foster healthy usage of technology at home, whilst, at the same time, cutting down the cost of bringing up children in the current digitalized world.
The initiative, therefore, forms part of the broader governmental strategy to reinforce family support systems, build digital literacy from a young age, and ensure that no child is left behind in a fast-paced digitally connected society.
What Does the Smart Family Bonus Entail?
Smart Family Bonus is a benefit newly introduced for eligible households with children below the age of 18. It offers a very thin balance between teaching and encouraging children in responsible and safe digital usage and relieving the family financially for cost-related technology needs.
This bonus was unveiled in the 2025 Budget Address and is aligned with an overarching ambition to see Singapore grow to a digitally inclusive smart nation. Being a mixture of financial assistance, educational means, and support for smart devices under one umbrella scheme, it will arguably touch the lives of more than 400,000 families.
What the S$3,600 Bonus Pays For
The S$3,600 is a total aggregate value that is never given as direct cash but rather processed through various components aimed at equipping families with skills and capabilities for digital living and digital parenting:
- Subsidies for smart devices such as tablets and laptops for children’s learning needs
- Free access to curated digital parenting workshops and cybersecurity courses
- Vouchers for accepted educational software and online learning platforms
- Discounts on child-friendly mobile plans with data usage controls
- One year of subscription to the national “Digital Parenting Hub” resource portal
Parents can start applying in August 2025 via the LifeSG app or through other government-supported digital services, with entitlement differing depending on household income and number of children.
Who Qualifies?
To be eligible for the Smart Family Bonus, the family must have:
- At least one Singapore Citizen child below 18 years of age
- Parents or legal guardians are Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents
- Household gross annual income is not more than S$150,000
- Child is enrolled into a local MOE-registered educational institution or its equivalent
Full subsidization of the devices, plus additional software credits, will be in place for lower-income families.
Those families who are already receiving support under the Baby Bonus, ComCare, or MOE Financial Assistance schemes will be given express processing for the new scheme as well.
How to Claim A Benefit
Beneficiaries can start applying to take advantage of the benefits from 1 August 2025 under the official Smart Family Bonus portal through Singpass. When verification is complete, the families will be directed to their personalized benefits dashboard, which enables them to:
- Choose devices from a government-approved marketplace
- Register for workshops and webinars on digital parenting
- Redeem e-vouchers for child-focused apps and platforms
- Activate filters and tools that enable safe browsing and online learning
Families have up to 12 months to utilize and exhaust the entirety of their voluntary entitlement.
The Government’s Target
The Smart Family Bonus was birthed from the growing concern over excessive screen time, issues pertaining to online safety, as well as, digital learning disparity between upper and lower-economic status families going on currently in Singapore. With more hours being spent by children on digital mediums for remote learning and socializing on social media, the government wants to equip parents with both the tools and know-how to inculcate healthy habits.
It is also part of Singapore’s plan to promote possessing digital resilience and forging family-centric digital inclusion in a manner wherein digital literacy is not merely confined to schools but rather permeates into the homes.
Officials considered the program to be a means of narrowing the digital divide and equipping parents with knowledge and resources so that technology becomes an instrument for good in the lives of their children.
Wrapping Up
Singapore’s Smart Family Bonus is a progressive and bold step in putting digital well-being at the core of family life. Offering up to S$3,600 worth of support, the initiative alleviates the costs of essential digital tools and uplifts parents with the confidence to wrap their arms around the online experiences of their children.
Parents should begin to check their eligibility now and be ready to maximize what could be called one of the most extensive digital parenting support packages offered in Southeast Asia when it officially kicks off in August.