From 1 December, about 140 additional courses will be eligible for the additional S$4,000 in SkillsFuture Credit (Mid-Career) under the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme, which encourages Singaporeans aged 40 and above to pursue further training.
These will comprise about 80 Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) full qualifications across various sectors, and about 60 courses supported by sector agencies in financial services, infocomm technology, and maritime and offshore.
Acting Minister for Manpower and Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Ms Jasmin Lau announced this on Wednesday (28 October) in a speech at the 10th SkillsFuture Fellowships and SkillsFuture Employer Awards Ceremony 2026.This year, 14 individuals from various sectors and 28 employers received the SkillsFuture Fellowships and SkillsFuture Employer Awards for actively championing lifelong learning, skills upgrading and workforce transformation.
Lau said that when the government introduced the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme in 2024, it mainly supported training offered by institutes of higher learning.
The programme will now cover more sector-specific courses offered by industry leaders and private training providers, starting with the financial services, infocomm technology, and maritime and offshore sectors.
For example, she said, mid-career workers seeking to move into the technology sector can enrol in the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) Tech Immersion and Placement Programme, which helps them enter the sector through intensive training and job placements.
In the maritime and offshore sector, workers can deepen their expertise by taking selected certifiable courses under the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore’s (MPA) Maritime Cluster Fund. Those in financial services can pursue further training through selected substantive courses under the Institute of Banking and Finance’s (IBF) Standards Training Scheme.
“We will keep working with industry and sector agencies to refresh these courses as jobs evolve,” she said. “We want workers to feel that the time and effort they put into training is worthwhile, and have confidence that the skills they acquire will open up new career opportunities.”
Launched in 2024, the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme encourages workers to upgrade their skills and strengthen their employability by providing Singaporeans aged 40 and above with an additional S$4,000 in SkillsFuture Credit (Mid-Career), as well as a monthly training allowance of up to S$3,000 for those pursuing training.
About 80,000 have used additional training credits
Lau also said that as of 30 June this year, about 80,000 Singaporeans had used their SkillsFuture Credit (Mid-Career) to upgrade their skills, and more than 11,000 had received the training allowance.
With the additional courses, a total of about 7,700 courses will be available to mid-career workers using their training credits.
At a later date, some of the new courses will also be eligible for the SkillsFuture Mid-Career Training Allowance for Singaporeans aged 40 and above, and Workfare Skills Support (Level-Up), which supports lower-wage workers aged 30 to 39. The Skills and Workforce Development Agency will announce details in due course.
Lau said lifelong learning cannot rest on individuals alone. Workers are more likely to invest time and effort in new skills when they understand the skills that industry needs, when employers give them opportunities to learn and apply these skills at work, and when their efforts translate into meaningful career progression.
