--- title: "S’pore to raise retirement age to 65, re-employment age to 70 in 2029; expand flexi work for seniors" url: "/trending-now/spore-raise-retirement-age-65-re-employment-age-70-2029-expand-flexi-work-seniors" published: "2026-10-26T06:54:32.000Z" updated: "2026-10-26T06:54:32.000Z" section: "Trending Now" tags: ["TNP News","Retirement","senior citizens","Ministry of Manpower","Singapore","worker"] --- # S’pore to raise retirement age to 65, re-employment age to 70 in 2029; expand flexi work for seniors Sharon Salim The Straits Times Oct 26, 2026 The retirement age will be raised to 65 on Jan 1, 2029, and the re-employment age to 70, as part of Singapore’s measures to build age-friendly jobs and age-diverse workplaces. This is one year ahead of the original target. “This gives senior workers greater assurance that they can continue working if they wish to,” the Tripartite Workgroup on Senior Employment said on Oct 26. The retirement age was raised to 64 earlier in July, while the re-employment age was raised to 69. The workgroup, which was set up in July 2025 to review and refresh Singapore’s senior employment strategy, outlined six recommendations, which the Government has accepted. Broadly, the moves will help seniors stay employed and return to work after a break; support those who wish to work beyond the statutory retirement and re-employment ages; and provide more targeted support for lower-wage seniors. The workgroup comprises representatives from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF). Its recommendations follow consultations with over 1,000 stakeholders, including employers, industry and union representatives, workers, HR professionals and academics, as well as overseas study trips. ## Creating flexi-load arrangements The workgroup’s report, released on Oct 26, noted that while flexi-place and flexi-time arrangements are fairly common, there is a “significant gap” in flexi-load options for seniors. Under the Ministry of Manpower’s Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangement Requests, flexi-place arrangements allow employees to work from different locations, such as from home, while flexi-time arrangements allow flexibility over their working hours, such as staggered start and end times. Flexi-load arrangements, meanwhile, allow employees to take on different workloads with corresponding adjustments to their remuneration. Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash said at a press conference on Oct 26 that the recommendations are meant to help seniors find meaningful and sustainable employment in more flexible ways. “For some seniors, this may mean continuing in the same job for longer. For others, it may mean moving into a different role, working at a different pace or adjusting work around changing personal circumstances. “What matters is that seniors who wish to continue working have meaningful options to do so,” he said. Among full-time resident employees aged 50 to 64, 85.5% were offered flexi-time work, and 78.7% were offered flexi-place arrangements. Just 74.5% were provided with flexi-load arrangements, according to MOM data in 2024. To help seniors who have left the workforce return to employment and encourage wider adoption of flexi-load arrangements, the workgroup proposed setting up a new flexi-load programme and a dedicated programme office. This replaces the part-time employment grant, which has supported about 68,500 seniors and 7,800 employers. The programme was developed after drawing insights from the workgroup’s study trip to Japan, which provides its senior workers with tailored support to help them navigate later-life career transitions. The Japanese government runs a network of Hello Work public employment offices that help people find jobs and access employment support. The offices have a “lifelong active worker support desk” that assists elderly job seekers in finding re-employment opportunities, including flexi-load work arrangements. The workgroup acknowledged that companies traditionally structured around full-time work may find it challenging to create flexi-load options and will require additional resources to redesign jobs, systems and policies. The new office, led by Skills and Workforce Development Agency (SWDA) and in collaboration with NTUC and SNEF, will push for more ways to help employers defray the costs of developing and implementing flexi-load arrangements. Redesigning and breaking jobs down into smaller roles, or job fractionalisation, would make it easier to match senior job seekers with employers’ needs. Dinesh cited how the prototypes and solutions developed by the Alliance for Action on Empowering Multi-Stage Careers for Mature Workers have benefited more than 1,600 senior workers. Over a year, 30 organisations across six sectors designed, tested and refined these prototypes. For example, social service organisation Kampong Kapor Community Services worked with Mercer, an HR and financial consulting firm, to create alternative employment models such as session-based and case-based roles to attract and retain experienced workers, who may no longer find traditional full-time employment arrangements suitable. NTUC deputy secretary-general Desmond Tan said the workgroup’s priority is about giving senior workers choice, assurance and dignity. That choice, however, must come with “personal readiness and responsibility”, he said, adding that senior workers can plan early and keep their skills current to prepare themselves for changes in jobs. ## Enhanced support for senior workers Singapore does not tax the first $20,000 of a tax resident’s chargeable income, while workers aged 55 to 59 currently get an additional $6,000 earned income relief, while those 60 and above get $8,000. The workgroup recommends reducing seniors’ tax burden by enhancing this relief for senior workers who work beyond the statutory retirement and re-employment ages. ![Singapore to raise retirement age to 65 in 2029](https://cassette.sphdigital.com.sg/image/stomp/22e5ba7a324f6ae649862ba088fde8afcfac8c75185c8af1a64d93ac6d120d06) *A new office will be set up to help firms redesign jobs and offer more flexi-load options for seniors.* This would increase their take-home pay and incentivise them to remain in the workforce. Employers in Singapore must make a one-off Employment Assistance Payment (EAP) to an eligible older worker as a last resort if it cannot find a suitable position for them when they reach the re-employment age. The workgroup proposed updating the minimum and maximum EAP amounts to account for wage growth in recent years and ensure that workers who are not re-employed continue to be adequately supported. The EAP is meant to help tide senior workers over while they look for alternative employment. To retain senior workers, another recommendation is to replace the expiring Senior Employment Credit (SEC) with a new Re-Employment Credit (REC) from 2028. The current SEC, which provides up to 7% in wage offsets to employers who hire Singaporeans aged 60 and above earning below $4,000 a month, will expire at the end of 2027. The workgroup’s final recommendation is to enhance the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) and update the Progressive Wage Credit Scheme (PWCS) to improve salaries and retirement adequacy of lower-wage senior workers, while offering employers greater support to raise wages sustainably. As lower-wage seniors face greater challenges in achieving income and retirement adequacy, the workgroup said it is important to ensure they can remain employed, productive and financially secure if they choose to continue working. More details on implementation of the workgroup’s recommendations and grant parameters will be shared in the first half of 2027 during the Government’s Committee of Supply, where the Manpower Ministry will present its budget plans.