Singapore’s Childminding Pilot: A Practical Guide

Eligibility, staffing and care blocks can sound like a lot of details. Here is how to turn them into a sensible conversation about your family’s infant care.

When a family is looking for infant care, the practical question is rarely whether an option exists. It is whether the setting, hours and staffing structure can cover the family’s weekday care gap without complicating handovers or the working day.

Singapore’s childminding pilot is designed as an additional infant care option alongside centres licensed by ECDA and private nanny arrangements. For eligible families, it offers another choice to consider. EduNanny’s pilot information sets out the current service conditions for this route.

The best way to assess whether it suits your family is to begin with the daily shape of care. A programme description can sound broad until you ask where care happens, how long the childminder cares for your baby each day and what a normal weekday might involve.

Start with the care format

At EduNanny, we offer home based childminding and community based care at Tampines East CC. Home based care takes place in the childminder’s home, while our community based option is located at Tampines East CC. Your choice may depend on the family’s location, the kind of environment you want and the arrangements available when you enquire. Our current pilot page describes these two EduNanny options and directs families to confirm locations and vacancies with the team.

Staffing is another important part of the care format. The Ministry of Social and Family Development says that operators will engage childminders to look after infants, with each childminder caring for between one and three infants at any one time. The Ministry’s announcement confirms this service limit.

This is a staffing arrangement, not a guarantee of particular developmental outcomes. During a visit, you can ask how communication, routines and individual preferences are handled. These are useful questions to raise with the childminder before deciding.

Check the details that govern your week

AI illustration of a parent and childminder during an infant care handover in a generic community room

Eligibility comes first. EduNanny lists the pilot for Singapore Citizen infants aged between 2 and 18 months who are not enrolled at the same time in an infant care centre licensed by ECDA. The pilot is scheduled to run from 1 December 2024 to 31 December 2027, and places are subject to availability. Confirm the requirements and capacity directly with the provider before relying on the arrangement for your family’s schedule. The eligibility section provides the stated conditions.

Next, consider the care blocks. Subsidised care under the pilot is available Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays, from 7am to 7pm. Families choose one agreed block of five hours or one agreed block of ten hours. A five hour block costs S$16.50 per day before GST, while a ten hour block costs S$33 per day before GST. EduNanny gives a monthly example based on 20 days: S$359.70 for five hours and S$719.40 for ten hours, including GST at 9%. The actual total depends on the number of billable days, so it is worth calculating the cost around your working pattern rather than assuming that every month costs the same. EduNanny’s plans and fees provide the current figures.

Payment arrangements matter too. The pilot page states that a Child Development Account can be used to pay for eligible service fees. When comparing the pilot with private nanny care, keep the funding and service arrangements separate. The official programme announcement gives the broader context, while EduNanny’s parent FAQ explains that subsidised pilot care and private nanny care are separate services.

Before signing, read the terms that could affect your family beyond the first few weeks. EduNanny’s enrolment information includes a S$1,000 security deposit and a contract that runs until the child turns 18 months old. Early withdrawal can incur a cancellation fee of S$200 for each month remaining in the contract, and notice can affect the treatment of the deposit. Confirm the current agreement, payment methods and any changes to care blocks with the team. The FAQ’s payment and withdrawal guidance explains the stated terms.

Use the visit and trial to assess the fit

AI illustration of a parent and childminder reviewing infant routines and handover questions

Parents are encouraged to meet the childminder and visit the home or centre environment before deciding. A trial of five days can also be arranged after the visit under EduNanny’s pilot terms. EduNanny’s parent FAQ describes both steps and advises families to confirm availability and review the full agreement before enrolment.

During the visit, you can ask how the childminder will learn about your baby’s feeding, sleep and comfort routines, how your preferences will be recorded and how updates will be shared while your child is in care. You might also ask who will be present, how handovers work and what happens if your working day changes. These questions can turn a general description into a more practical picture of the arrangement.

A trial can help you notice the flow of a handover and ask more specific questions. It need not answer every future question about your child’s care. The visit, trial and written agreement each provide different information: the visit lets you see the setting, the trial helps you experience the early routine, and the agreement records the terms you are accepting.

The pilot’s structure may suit different families in different ways. If the stated eligibility, setting and weekday block match the care gap you are trying to fill, the next step is a clear conversation about communication, routines and the agreement. The final check is practical: do the everyday arrangements make sense for your child and your family?