What is the Household Services Scheme in Singapore?

The Household Services Scheme (HSS) is a Ministry of Manpower scheme that lets approved companies hire migrant workers to provide part-time domestic services, such as home cleaning, grocery shopping, car-washing and pet-sitting. The worker is employed by the company, not by you, and the company sends them to your home for the hours you book.

If a migrant worker cleans your home part-time, it is worth knowing how this works, because the alternative many people reach for, borrowing someone else's helper, is not legal. Here is what the scheme covers, why it matters and how to check a company yourself.

What the scheme is

HSS started as a pilot in 2017 with 15 companies. MOM made it a permanent scheme on 1 September 2021, and at that point counted 76 participating companies serving more than 10,000 households.

For companies, the scheme brings additional Work Permit quota and wider hiring. Approved HSS companies may hire female workers from Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka or Thailand. For households, the point is simpler: it gives you a legitimate way to get part-time help without becoming an employer yourself.

What HSS workers can do

MOM describes HSS as part-time or temporary household help, and the services have grown over time.

The elder-minding tasks MOM lists are basic ones: personal care such as bathing and dressing, help with feeding and moving around, engaging the person in activities, accompanying them on walks, keeping watch and helping with medication prescribed by healthcare professionals. MOM is clear that HSS is for households that need this help intermittently, and that households needing a higher level of care, such as home nursing, should approach specialised caregiving companies. It also advises households to ask the provider about the experience, qualification and training of the worker sent.

Cooking is not among the examples MOM gives, so if you want anything beyond cleaning, ask the company what its workers may do before you book.

Why it matters who employs your cleaner

A live-in helper's work permit ties her to one employer and one address. MOM states that it is an offence for a domestic worker to take part-time work, with or without her employer's consent, because she may do chores only for her employer at the residential address on her permit.

Other work permit holders are bound in a similar way. MOM's Work Permit conditions say a holder must work only for the employer, and in the occupation and sector, specified in their permit, and must not take part in any other business.

So a cleaner who offers to come for a few hours "on her off day" is not a bargain. The legal route for part-time help from a migrant worker is a company that is allowed to deploy them, and HSS is MOM's scheme for that. If you are weighing part-time help against employing someone full-time, our guide to a part-time cleaner or a live-in helper compares the two.

How to check a company is on MOM's list

MOM publishes the list of HSS companies as a PDF, linked from its Household Services Scheme FAQ. Checking takes a few minutes.

1. Open the latest list from MOM's page, rather than a copy someone sends you. The version checked for this guide says "Updated as of 1 Sep 2026" at the top.
2. Find the company's registered name. The list gives registered company names only, such as a name ending in "Pte. Ltd.", which is often different from the brand on a website or an ad.
3. Ask the service which company employs the cleaner who will come, and match that name against the list.
4. Look the company up on ACRA's Bizfile. A free search shows whether its registration is live and its registered address.
5. For elder-minding, use MOM's separate list of companies taking part in that pilot.

If a service will not tell you which company employs its cleaners, treat that as your answer.

What the list does not tell you

Being on the list tells you how a company may hire its workers. It is not a rating. The PDF carries no reviews, prices or service standards, and it does not tell you which person will turn up.

You still need to ask the usual questions: what a session covers, who provides the supplies, what happens when your cleaner is ill, what happens if something is damaged, and how cancellations work. Those answers decide whether an arrangement works for your home. It is also worth knowing how payment will be taken, since legitimate companies take it through their own business payment page, not a transfer to a person; our guide to spotting a cleaning scam covers the warning signs.

HSS and HomeMaster

HomeMaster sells home cleaning and aircon servicing, nothing else. We do not offer grocery shopping, pet-sitting or elder-minding, even though some HSS companies do.

The agencies whose cleaners carry out our home cleaning bookings are on MOM's HSS list, checked against the list updated as of 1 September 2026. Every cleaner is background checked and reference verified before their first job, and trained against our written 75-point housekeeping standard.

You can ask Helen, our AI assistant on WhatsApp, at any time who is coming to your home. For a regular slot we aim to keep the same cleaner where possible, and we arrange cover when they are unavailable. Our part-time cleaner page explains how regular visits work and what they cost.