FAQ Section

Upon registering for a certifiable (WSQ) course, please indicate your residential status, age, and monthly income for us to assess your eligibility.

For individuals, we will apply for the MCES grant on your behalf. You only need to pay us the nett fee, attend and complete the course, and pass the assessment.

For companies, you will be required to apply for the MCES grant via TPGateway and we will need to endorse it. You will receive a step-by-step guide on how to do so after registering for a certifiable (WSQ) course.

View our Terms & Conditions.

The Workfare Skills Support (WSS) scheme is a scheme to allow lower-wage workers to upskill and undertake sustainable training. Under this scheme, eligible individuals may receive training allowance for selected courses or cash reward for completing the certification.

The Workfare Skills Support (WSS) Scheme) is eligible for Singapore Citizens who meet the following criteria:

• At least 30 years old and above, or at least 13 years old for Persons with Special Needs.
• Currently employed (include Self-Employed Persons who declare his/her Net Trade Income or work done in the preceding Work Year and made MediSave contributions)
• Earns an average gross monthly income of not more than $2,500 (previously $2,300) for the past 12 months
• Lives in a property with an annual value of less than $13,000 assessed as at 31 December of the preceding year
• Owns less than two properties
• If married:
  • Together with spouse, own less than two properties; or
  • Spouse’s assessable income for the preceding Year of Assessment is less than $70,000.

Training Commitment Allowance

Eligible individuals can qualify for cash awards. Trainees will receive $800 for one WSQ Qualification or Academic CET Qualification, and $100 for any 2 of the following courses – WSQ Statement of Attainment (SOA), Academic CET Modular Certificate/ Post-Diploma Certificate, Other certifiable courses supported by SSG – capped at $200.

Note that the completion of courses must be attained during the trainee’s eligibility period and there is a cap of $1,000 per WSS Eligibility year.

No application is required. Individuals will be notified of their TCA payment via SMS and/or letter from CPF Board. It may take 1 to 3 months for you to receive the payment.

Yes, you may check the respective course pages to find out if UTAP is accepted for the course you are enrolling. You will need to submit your UTAP claim within 6 months after the course ends. Upon completion of the course, log in to your U Portal account to submit your UTAP application using the invoice, receipt and course certificate.

Singaporean Citizens can use his/her PSEA funds to pay for approved fees and charges for WSQ programmes. The PSEA account will be closed the year the account holder turns 31 years of age. Any unused funds in the PSEA will be transferred to the account holder’s CPF.

To check your PSEA account balance, dial the 24-hour automated Edusave/ PSEA hotline at 6260 0777 and enter your NRIC number.

To utilise your PSEA Funds:

1) Call MOE’s 24-hour PSEA Automatic Hotline at 6260 0777 to check your account balance.

2) Submit your registration and retrieve the course code from our course administrators.

3)Visit the following link to submit a withdrawal form: http://go.gov.sg/psea-withdrawal-tps

Kindly take note that for trainees under 21 years of age, the withdrawal request requires submission using their parent’s SingPass.

4) If you have any outstanding balance after subtracting your available PSEA funds, you may complete the remaining payment by iBanking, PayNow, Credit Card or Cheque.

Detailed instructions on how to claim your PSEA funds will also be included in your registration confirmation email sent to you after your registration.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Your claim must be submitted at least 1 month before the course start date. If you are past the deadline, you will need to pay your course fees using an alternate payment method to reserve your seat. Once your PSEA funds have been disbursed to us, we will contact you to initiate a refund.

The SkillsFuture Mid-career Enhanced Subsidy is eligible for Singapore Citizens aged 40 years and above.

Eligible individuals can benefit from Skillsfuture subsidies for certifiable (WSQ) courses. For a 16-hour course that costs $990, the individual pays only $297 (not inclusive of GST), while SSG subsidises the rest of the fees.

The remaining course fees after subsidies (e.g. $297) can be further offset by your SkillsFuture Credit.

SSG grants available for self-sponsored individuals:

• SkillsFuture Mid-career Enhanced Subsidy (MCES)
• Singapore Citizens and Singapore Permanent Residences ages 21 – 39 years old
• SkillsFuture Credit

Eligible individuals (Singapore Citizens and Singapore Permanent Residences from the ages 21 – 39) can benefit from subsidies of course fees for certifiable (WSQ) courses approved by SkillsFuture. E.g. For a 16-hour WSQ course at $990, SSG subsidises $495. The individual need only pay the balance of $495 (not inclusive of GST).

Furthermore, self-sponsored Singapore Citizens can offset any remaining course fees after subsidy with their SkillsFuture Credit or Post Secondary Education Account (PSEA) funds. (See below sections)

To calculate your nett course fees after any SSG funding/subsidy, you may use the course grant calculator found at the registration page of each course.

2. SkillsFuture Credit (SFC)

From January 2016, all Singaporeans aged 25 and above will receive an opening credit of S$500 in their SkillsFuture Credit account. This credit can be used to offset any outstanding course fees for SkillsFuture approved courses.

Example scenario:

You wish to sign up for a course that costs $990 and you have $500 in your SkillsFuture Credit. You may use your SkillsFuture Credit to offset part of the fees. E.g. $990 – $500 SFC = $490 (nett payable fee).

Note: The SkillsFuture Credit is only usable with self-sponsored individuals. Employers sending employees to attend WSQ and Non-WSQ SkillsFuture approved courses are only eligible for SSG Grant, Absentee Payroll funding, and SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit (SFEC).

Once you have registered for the course, you will receive detailed step-by-step instructions on how to claim your SkillsFuture Credit. The claiming process is relatively simple and straightforward. We will be able to assist you should you require any help along the way.

For certifiable (WSQ) and non-certifiable (non-WSQ) courses approved by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), companies (Non-SMEs) can apply under the following grant schemes to subsidise the course fees.

1. Singapore Citizens and Singapore Permanent Residents
2. Absentee Payroll

Please see next sections for more details on each grant/funding.

For Singaporean Citizen and Singaporean Permanent Resident employees aged 21 to 39, companies (non-SMEs) can apply for Skillsfuture funding of course fees for courses. Example scenario: You send your employee for a 16-hour certifiable (WSQ) course costing $990. The grant amount will be $495. The nett payable course fee is $495 (not inclusive of GST).

For Singaporean Citizen and Singaporean Permanent Resident employees aged 40 and above, companies (non-SMEs) can apply for funding of course fees. Example scenario: You send your employee for a 16-hour certifiable (WSQ) course costing $990. The grant amount will be $693. The nett payable course fee is $297.

To apply/claim funding for employees, employers need to register their employees for a certifiable (WSQ) course at Equinet Academy. Upon completing your registration with us, we will apply for the training grant on your behalf via SSG’s TPGateway portal.

Absentee Payroll (AP) funding is a grant to help employers defray the manpower costs incurred when they send their employees for certifiable skills training during working hours.

Certifiable courses approved by SSG are eligible for Absentee Payroll:

For certifiable (WSQ) courses approved by SkillsFuture, employers (Non-SMEs) may claim a standardised $4.50 per training hour.

Example scenario:

You attend a certifiable (WSQ) SkillsFuture approved course with a total duration of 16 training hours. The total amount you can claim is 16hrs x $4.50 = $72.

You may still eligible for absentee payroll when the course takes place on the weekend.

Companies can claim absentee payroll of $4.50/hr. In addition to absentee payroll, for weekend classes employers are expected to pay OT.

After the course, your company’s CorpPass user with the assigned credentials will receive a notification to login to Enterprise Portal for Jobs & Skills (EPJS) to declare the employment details for the trainee. For more information, you may refer to the Absentee Payroll Claim Onboarding Guide.

After the course, your company’s CorpPass user with the assigned credentials will receive a notification to login to Enterprise Portal for Jobs & Skills (EPJS) to declare the employment details for the trainee. For more information, you may refer to the Absentee Payroll Claim Onboarding Guide.

SFEC aims to encourage employers to invest in enterprise and workforce transformation. Eligible employers can tap on a one-off $10,000 credit per firm to cover up to 90% of out-of-pocket expenses on qualifying costs for schemes or training courses that demonstrate support for enterprise or workforce transformation.

More information on: https://www.enterprisesg.gov.sg/financial-assistance/grants/for-local-companies/skillsfuture-enterprise-credit

For SSG-funded courses, companies can tap on the SFEC to subsidise the out-of-pocket fees (i.e. nett course fees, certification fees, assessment fees) for WSQ courses, capped $10,000 per company.

Example scenario:

• Full Fee of Training: $1,000
• SSG Course Fee Subsidy (90%): $900
• Out-of-pocket Expense: $100
• SFEC Disbursement (90%): $90

Employers are only required to submit the final claims for the supportable programmes that they have successfully applied for/attended by 30 June 2023. Employers may follow the claim processes and requirements indicated by the respective agencies for the supportable programmes.

For SFEC-eligible courses, employers may be required to submit the SFEC claims on the SkillsFuture Singapore’s SFEC microsite, https://go.gov.sg/sfec-microsite.

Employers are advised to hold on to the training receipts and submit claims, if necessary, from 1 April 2021.

Upon approval of the claims for these supportable programmes, the corresponding credit will be calculated and be disbursed via employers’ GIRO account registered with IRAS, or PayNow Corporate from 1 April 2021.

For certifiable (WSQ) and non-certifiable (non-WSQ) courses approved by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), companies (SMEs) can apply under the following grant schemes to subsidise the course fees.

1. Enhanced Training Support for SMEs
2. Absentee Payroll
3. SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit (SFEC)

Please see next sections for more details on each grant/funding.

The Enhanced Training Support for SMEs is eligible for organisations who meet ALL of the following criteria.

SMEs that meet all of the following eligibility criteria:

1. Registered or incorporated in Singapore
2. Employment size of not more than 200 or with annual sales turnover of not more than $100 million

SME-sponsored Trainees:

1. Must be Singapore Citizens or Singapore Permanent Residents.
2. Courses have to be fully paid for by the employer.
3. Trainee is not a full-time national serviceman.

SMEs sponsoring their employees (Singaporean Citizens and Singaporean Permanent Residents) for certifiable (WSQ) courses approved by SkillsFuture at Equinet Academy will enjoy subsidies of the course fees. In addition, SMEs can also claim absentee payroll of $4.50 per hour when their employees attend courses during working hours.

An example scenario, your company is an SME and you are sending your employee, who is a Singaporean Citizen/Permanent Resident aged 25 years old, for a certifiable (WSQ) course costing $990. You apply for the ETSS funding and your nett course fee is $990 (original course fee) – $693 (total grant amount) = $297 (not inclusive of GST).

After the training, you may apply for the absentee payroll of $4.50 x 16 hours (total training and assessment hours) = $72.

To apply for the Enhanced Training Support for SMEs (ETSS) grant, employers need to register their employees for a certifiable (WSQ) course at Equinet Academy. Upon completing your registration with us, we will apply for the training grant on your behalf via SSG’s TPGateway portal.

Absentee Payroll (AP) funding is a grant to help employers defray the manpower costs incurred when they send their employees for certifiable skills training during working hours.

Certifiable courses approved by SSG are eligible for Absentee Payroll:

For certifiable (WSQ) courses approved by SkillsFuture, employers (SMEs) may claim a standardised $4.50 per training hour of absentee payroll.

Example scenario:

Your employee attend a certifiable (WSQ) SkillsFuture approved course with a total duration of 16 training hours. The total amount you can claim is 16hrs x $4.50 = $72.

In order to be eligible for a self-employed training grant, your company must be registered in ACRA and you should be contributing CPF to yourself.

You may still eligible for absentee payroll when the course takes place on the weekend.

Companies can claim absentee payroll of a standardised $4.50/hr. In addition to absentee payroll, for weekend classes employers are expected to pay OT.