SINGAPORE: About 20,000 people have been affected by a processing issue in the Household Means Eligibility System (HOMES), a means-testing system managed by the Ministry of Health (MOH).
The majority of those affected received higher-than-intended subsidies and grants, MOH said in a media release on Monday (Jul 21). The rest received subsidies and grants that were lower than intended.
Corrections to subsidy and grant levels are currently being made, following the discovery of the issue, the ministry added.
HOMES typically uses income information from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) to means-test individuals with business income, said MOH.
However, in January 2025, the system could not appropriately account for the business incomes of selected individuals following changes in the data processing timelines.
This led to “inaccurate means-testing” for individuals with business incomes and members of their households between Jan 1 and Jan 27.
Around 19,000 people who are under schemes administered by MOH were affected, the Health Ministry said.
Another 1,000 people were also affected despite being under other schemes managed by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), Ministry of Education (MOE), and Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).
This is because “HOMES also provides means-testing results for selected subsidy schemes across the government”, MOH added.
Those affected by the issue represent less than 3 per cent of all individuals means-tested during the Jan 1 to Jan 27 period, the ministry said.
