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National Service

Around the age of 18, every male citizen of Singapore is enlisted for National Service (NS) and undergoes two years of military training. Men who have completed their full-time NS become National Servicemen (NSmen). As a result, NSmen form the ranks of Singapore’s Operationally Ready National Servicemen (ORNS) and are required to take part in regular ORNS activities. Such employees can be called up for a maximum of 40 days of NS every year.

An employee may not be dismissed on account of being called up for NS. Employers are also required to grant NSmen a leave of absence to complete their annual NS, which will have an impact on their regular remuneration.

Please note: According to the Enlistment Act, when an employee is away from work performing ORNS activities, CPF contributions are unaffected, and the full amount remains payable at the usual rate for the employee.

NSmen Payments

NSmen receive two types of NS pay during ORNS activities:

  • Service Pay – based on the NSman’s rank and vocation for the training. It will be pro-rated based on the duration of the ORNS activity in which the employee participates.
  • Make-Up Pay (MUP) – MUP is the difference between any loss in an NSman’s civilian income and their Service Pay, for the duration of their ORNS activities. The purpose of this is to ensure that you do not suffer a loss in income from participating in ORNS activities.

Please note: MUP is provided only if there is an overlap between the NSman’s civilian working hours and the NS training. Any loss of income suffered outside the duration of ORNS activities will not be compensated by the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) / Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

There are two payment methods for Make-Up Pay (MUP) claims to employed NSmen discussed below. For self-employed NSmen, please refer to NS Matters.

Direct Reimbursement to Employers of Claims for National Service Training (DIRECT)

Employers registered with the DIRECT scheme should continue paying employees their usual salaries, including basic salaries, fixed allowances, and any additional or variable payments such as overtime or commissions.

For additional or variable payments, companies should calculate the amount based on the employee’s average past variable payments before his ORNS/SAFVC Volunteer (SV) activity. MINDEF/MHA will reimburse companies the auto-generated MUP amounts, and if NSmen are eligible for base NS Pay, the difference between this and NSmen’s civilian income loss will be credited directly to the NSmen’s bank accounts.

You will be able to register for the DIRECT Scheme and update your bank account details via the Employee Payment Management eService.

Since you are continuing to pay the employee his usual salary, there are no changes required when processing payroll.

Non-Direct Reimbursement to Employees of Claims for National Service Training (NON-DIRECT)

Non-Direct NSmen Pay refers to NSmen Pay that is paid to an employee – and not directly to the employer. This amount is excluded from the employee’s gross salary but is still subject to CPF contributions.

To add Non-Direct NSmen Pay to an employee’s profile, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Go to an employee’s profile and click on Add next to Regular Inputs. Select the NSmen Pay (non-DIRECT) item, under Income. Enter an amount in the Amount field. Note that this amount will be subject to CPF contributions.

Please note: You can also edit or delete (when no longer applicable) this item by clicking on the NSmen Pay (non-DIRECT) item on the payroll page of an employee’s profile.

Step 2: Employers are required to manually reduce an employee's Basic Salary by the amount listed under the NSmen Pay (non-DIRECT) item for that period. Failure to do this will also result in an over-reported Basic Salary and will, therefore, result in an inaccurate amount being paid.

Step 3: Lastly, in order to ensure that the correct Nett Pay is recorded, employers are required to create a custom deduction item, with the same amount listed under the NSmen Pay (non-DIRECT) item for that period.

More information on how to create Custom Items can be found here.

There is currently no system leave type available for National Service, but you can create a custom leave type if you want to keep track of the leave days taken.

Please ensure that you do not select unpaid leave when setting up your custom NS leave item as the above-mentioned custom deduction item already caters for the pay changes necessary for your employee.

More information on how to create Custom Leave Types can be found here.

For more information about National Service and CPF contributions for NSmen, please refer to the MINDEF website or the CPF Board website, respectively.