What does the Platform Workers Act mean for my fleet, delivery or ride-hail business?

The Answer in 60 Seconds The Platform Workers Act 2024 (Act 30 of 2024) came into full force on 1 January 2025, per the MOM press release of 17 December 2024. It protects platform workers in three areas, each with obligations on platform operators: (1) increased CPF contributions, mandatory for platform workers born on or after 1 January 1995, with older workers able to opt in through the CPF Board; (2) work injury compensation insurance at the same level of coverage as employees have under WICA, bought from a designated platform-operator (PO) insurer; and (3) representation, through registered Platform Work Associations that gain recognition from an operator directly or through a secret ballot. Operators must also notify MOM of their status, keep records and issue earnings slips.

The Sourced Detail

The Act gives platform workers, who are not employees, their own protections. Section 5 of the Act defines a platform worker as an individual who has an agreement with a platform operator to provide a platform service in Singapore (currently delivery and ride-hail, per the First Schedule), is subject to the operator's management control, is paid in money or in kind for the service, and is in Singapore when providing it; an agreement that is a contract of service is excluded.

The three pillars

Pillar 1: CPF. Per the MOM announcement, Increased CPF contributions are mandatory for platform workers born on or after 1 January 1995. Workers born before that date may opt in (and the decision is irreversible). Contribution rates phase in over five years from 2025 to 2029, eventually matching employee CPF rates. The Platform Workers CPF Transition Support (PCTS) offsets 100% of the worker's share of increase in 2025 for lower-income workers.

Pillar 2: Work Injury Compensation Insurance. Per section 34O of the Work Injury Compensation Act 2019, added by the Act's Ninth Schedule, platform operators must insure with a designated PO insurer against their WICA liabilities for every platform worker who provides a platform service for them. Platform workers can claim for injuries while performing pick-up or delivery tasks, not while waiting for tasks. Coverage must mirror the WICA framework that applies to traditional employees - same medical, medical-leave-wage and permanent-incapacity benefits, including the revised limits effective 1 November 2025.

Pillar 3: Platform Work Associations. Part 3 of the Act creates a register of Platform Work Associations (PWAs), separate from trade unions. A registered PWA that gains recognition from a platform operator, directly or through a secret ballot of the platform workers, can negotiate a Collective Agreement with the operator on the platform workers' terms and conditions of work.

Who is a "platform operator"?

Per section 4 of the Act, a platform operator is a person who provides ride-hail or delivery services through an online platform and exercises management control over platform workers (controlling acceptance of jobs, pricing, performance ratings, etc.). MOM has published a self-assessment checklist. Companies meeting the criteria must notify MOM via an online form. Companies that notified MOM before 1 January 2025 do not need to re-notify, per the MOM commencement press release of 17 December 2024.

The clearest examples are Grab, foodpanda, Gojek and similar ride-hail and delivery apps; MOM publishes a list of platform operators that have notified it. The definition does not currently extend to other gig categories (private tutoring marketplaces, freelance design platforms, beauty services). MOM may extend the scope by regulation.

The six designated PO insurers

Per the MOM list of designated platform operator insurers (verified 3 May 2026), only six insurers are currently authorised to issue PO WIC policies:

  1. Chubb Insurance Singapore Limited (designation expires 15 Oct 2027)
  2. Etiqa Insurance Pte. Ltd. (15 Oct 2027)
  3. Grabinsure (S) Pte. Ltd. (23 Dec 2027)
  4. Great Eastern General Insurance Limited (17 Oct 2027)
  5. Income Insurance Limited (16 Oct 2027)
  6. Singapore Life Ltd (15 Oct 2027)

This is materially smaller than the 24-insurer list for traditional employer WICA. A platform operator cannot use any of the 19 employer-WICA insurers that are not PO-designated for platform-worker coverage; the policy must be issued by a PO-designated insurer.

Penalties

The Platform Workers (Administrative Penalties) Regulations 2024 (S 1011/2024), in force from 1 January 2025, set administrative penalties for the Act's civil contraventions: failure to notify MOM of becoming or ceasing to be a platform operator, and failure to keep the required records or issue earnings slips. Failure to insure is dealt with under WICA, and CPF contributions under the CPF Act.

Insurance market response

GrabInsure, part of the Grab group, provides WICA cover for Grab's driver- and delivery-partners. The other five designated PO insurers are Chubb, Etiqa, Great Eastern General, Income and Singlife. Per NTUC's PO-WICA explainer, designated insurers cannot discriminate by age, race, gender or health status, and must respond to claimant hotline enquiries within 3 working days and emails within 5 working days.

What This Means for Your Business

If you operate a ride-hail or delivery platform, three implications stand out.

You cannot self-insure or use an employer WICA policy. A standard employer WICA policy from one of the 24 employer-designated insurers will not satisfy the platform operator obligation. You must buy from one of the six PO-designated insurers.

Your CPF cost is real and will scale. The phasing schedule means CPF cost rises every year from 2025 to 2029. SME platform operators should model the cumulative impact through to 2029 rather than just 2025, because the operator's share of CPF contributions rises in steps until it aligns with employer rates by 2029. The Platform Workers CPF Transition Support is paid to lower-income platform workers, not to operators, and tapers from 2025 to 2028.

If you contract with a platform - but are not the platform - your obligations are different. A logistics SME that uses Grab Express to fulfil deliveries does not become a "platform operator" by that fact. The Act's obligations sit with the platform operator (Grab), not the SME shipper. But if your business model puts you in the position of dispatching gig workers under management control via your own app, you may be in scope. Section 4 of the Platform Workers Act 2024 sets out the operator definition. A licensed adviser on the Covarage platform can route the policy question alongside legal counsel review of operator status.

Questions to Ask Your Adviser

  1. Have we self-assessed against MOM's platform operator checklist and notified MOM where required?
  2. Which of the six PO-designated insurers offers terms that suit our platform worker numbers and claims history?
  3. How does our PO WICA policy interact with personal accident or top-up coverage some platforms offer?
  4. What is our cumulative 2025-2029 CPF cost projection on current worker volumes?
  5. Have we updated our platform Terms of Service to reflect mandatory WIC insurance and platform workers' right to join a registered Platform Work Association?

Related Information

Published 3 May 2026. Source verified 3 May 2026.