Starting from 1 September, a scheme that allows households to get hold of part-time household services like home cleaning will be made permanent, as feedback shows demand for such services have increased, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Monday (23 Aug).
The scheme, Household Services Scheme (HSS), first started as a pilot programme in 2017 with 15 participating companies, but has since expanded to 76 participating companies as of now.
These companies provide household cleaning services to more than 10,000 households. Apart from home cleaning, HSS also permits workers to offer other services such as grocery shopping, car washing, and pet-sitting.
“The increased participation numbers, as well as feedback from the companies and their customers, have shown that the scheme is useful in supporting the demand for part-time household services,” said MOM in a statement.
The Ministry added that anyone who are interested to look for part-time household services can consider engaging companies approved under the scheme.
MOM also noted that it will keep on monitoring demand from households, and review if the scope of services can be expanded further in the future.
Unlike foreign domestic workers who live with their employers, workers employed by HSS firms can be deployed to multiple houses on a part-time basis to provide household services. These workers live in a private accommodations arranged by their companies, said the Ministry.
As for nationalities of those employed by participating HSS firms, MOM stated that currently these companies can only hire female workers from India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. These are in addition to the existing approved countries in the service sectors which include China and Malaysia, as well as other Asian sources like Taiwan, South Korea, Macao, and Hong Kong.
The companies can also be eligible for an additional work permit quota to hire more workers, but this depends on their headcount and employee composition.
Additionally, from 1 September onwards, Cambodia will also be added to the list of approved countries or regions that HSS firms can hire female workers from, said MOM.
