20,000 Singaporeans received wrong subsidies and grants after system error: MOH
About 20,000 people in Singapore received incorrect subsidy or grant amounts due to a technical issue in the government’s means-testing system. The Ministry of Health said most were overpaid but will not have to return the extra money.
- About 20,000 people affected by a Homes system error; most received excess subsidies.
- Over-payments total about S$7 million, while underpayments amount to S$2 million.
- Affected individuals will not need to return overpaid funds; shortfalls will be reimbursed by November.
SINGAPORE: About 20,000 people in Singapore received incorrect subsidies and grants due to a processing error in the government’s means-testing system, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on 22 July.
MOH, which oversees the Household Means Eligibility System (Homes), said the glitch led to over-payments of around S$7 million for roughly 90 per cent of affected individuals. The remaining 10 per cent received lower subsidies or grants, amounting to shortfalls of about S$2 million.
On 21 July, the ministry confirmed that Homes had experienced a processing issue that caused the miscalculations.
Those who received excess payments will not have to return the money. Meanwhile, individuals who received less than they were entitled to will have the outstanding amounts automatically topped up by government agencies by November 2025.
Homes uses income data from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) to conduct means-testing for several government subsidy schemes, particularly for self-employed individuals with business income.
For the 2025 year of assessment, IRAS began sending tax filing notifications in mid-January instead of December to ensure full-year CPF contributions were captured accurately.
However, during this transition, the Homes system failed to include business income data for some individuals, resulting in inaccurate means-testing between 1 and 27 January 2025.
MOH said the issue came to light on 13 January after a member of the public raised a query while applying for subsidies. An investigation was launched and the processing fault was identified shortly after.
The ministry said it is working to enhance the design of Homes to strengthen coordination and data integration with other government systems.
This is not the first such incident. In 2019, about 7,700 people received inaccurate subsidies after a computer system error affected means-testing results for Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) card applicants in 2018.
