SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) has taken action against a student care centre for wrongful claims made for fee subsidies and has referred the case to the Commercial Affairs Department.

Welcare Student Care Centre was found to have made “multiple instances of wrongful claims” for student care fee subsidies to the Government. In a statement on Tuesday (March 22), the MSF revealed it uncovered these lapses in a recent audit and has served a notice of intention to the centre to revoke its status as a student care centre that is allowed to administer government student care fee assistance. 

“The Ministry takes a serious view of these lapses. We have since referred the matter to the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force,” it added.

Parents whose children are enrolled at Welcare Student Care Centre have been informed of the situation. The ministry has also sent letters to parents to provide support and  assurance.

The centre will not be allowed to administer government student care fee assistance to any new students with immediate effect.

New students will have to go to another centre if they wish to receive fee assistance. 

The centre’s current operations, however, will not be affected as no safety issues nor issues concerning the well-being of the students were found, the MSF said. 

The notice of intention to revoke its status was served to Mr Gerard Michael, the president of Welcare Student Care Centre. 

The centre will now need to provide an explanation of how the lapses occurred and the steps it will take to ensure that its processes are improved within 14 days. 

“If the centre fails to provide a satisfactory explanation, MSF will revoke its status as a centre that is allowed to administer government student care fee assistance,” the ministry said.

It added that the ministry will monitor the centre’s subsidy claims closely during this period, and require the centre to work with the ministry to ensure that the claims are properly carried out. 

Welcare Student Care Centre did not respond to queries as of press time. 

Last year, two directors of the Sweetlands Childcare centres were stripped of their positions as Approved Persons, after an audit found that they had allegedly made unauthorised withdrawals from the Child Development Accounts (CDA) of several children. Mr Ho Boon Hong and Mdm Chan Chew Shia were also alleged to have made wrongful claims for childcare subsidies from the Government. 

Approved Persons are authorised persons of approved institutions registered with the ministry, and are allowed to make deductions from CDAs for the payment of childcare and related fees.