If you searched for "EDG vs PSG vs CCP", you've probably noticed these three grant names come up together in almost every Singapore SME grants guide, blog post, and consultant's pitch deck. They get bundled into the same sentence so often that it's easy to assume they're variations on the same theme — three flavours of the same government support scheme.
They're not. EDG, PSG and CCP are run by different agencies, support completely different activities, and — this is the part that trips up most business owners — only one of them puts money toward your headcount.
If your actual goal is something like "I want to hire a new manager", "I need to bring someone experienced into a new role", or "I'm restructuring my team and want help with the cost", you need to know upfront that two of these three grants won't help you directly, no matter how often they appear in the same article as your search term.
This guide breaks down what EDG, PSG, and CCP each actually cover, why the confusion exists in the first place, and — most importantly — which one to focus on if your priority is hiring, reskilling, or building out your team. We'll also cover how they can work together, because in some cases they do.
What each grant actually is
EDG (Enterprise Development Grant)
The Enterprise Development Grant (EDG) is administered by Enterprise Singapore. It's one of the most widely referenced grants for SMEs, and for good reason — it covers a broad range of business transformation projects.
EDG funds projects under three pillars:
- Core Capabilities — strengthening foundational business areas such as business strategy, financial management, and human capital or talent management systems
- Innovation & Productivity — process redesign, automation, and exploring new business models or service lines
- Market Access — overseas expansion activities, such as entering a new market or setting up overseas operations
Funding support is typically up to 50% of qualifying project costs for most applicants. Rates have varied during specific periods in the past — for example, during economic support packages — so the exact figure should always be confirmed with Enterprise Singapore or a grant consultant at the point of application.
The key thing to understand about EDG is that it's project-based and consultant or vendor-led. You define a scope of work — say, a six-month engagement with a consultant to redesign your organisational structure and put new HR processes in place — and EDG co-funds that defined project. It does not pay ongoing salaries, and it doesn't fund the cost of the new hires who might eventually fill roles created by that project.
Is EDG a hiring grant? No. This is where most of the confusion starts. EDG's "Core Capabilities" pillar explicitly mentions human capital and talent management, which makes it sound hiring-related on the surface. In practice, this pillar funds things like bringing in a consultant to design a new performance management framework, build out an HR systems roadmap, or restructure how your organisation is set up. That's a project about your HR function or systems — not a subsidy for the salary of the person you eventually hire to run that function. If your goal is "I need help paying for a new employee's salary", EDG is the wrong door, even though its name and pillar descriptions sit right next to grants that genuinely do that.
PSG (Productivity Solutions Grant)
The Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) is also administered by Enterprise Singapore, but it works very differently from EDG. Instead of funding bespoke consultancy projects, PSG supports the adoption of pre-approved, pre-scoped IT solutions and equipment — software and hardware that have already been vetted and listed by Enterprise Singapore as productivity-improving for specific sectors.
Common examples include:
- Accounting and payroll software
- HR management systems (HRMS)
- Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms
- Retail point-of-sale and inventory systems
- Sector-specific automation equipment (e.g. in F&B, logistics, construction)
Funding support is typically up to 50% of costs for solutions on the pre-approved list. Because the solutions are pre-scoped by category and vendor, the application process is generally more standardised than EDG's — you select an approved solution, and the support is calculated against its listed price.
Is PSG a hiring grant? No. PSG is fundamentally about buying or subscribing to software and equipment, not about people. The confusion here usually comes from one specific overlap: PSG's pre-approved list includes HR management systems. So a business owner thinking "I need to sort out my HR processes — does that mean hiring help, or grant help with HR software?" can easily land on PSG and assume it's connected to staffing. It isn't. PSG might subsidise the cost of the HRMS software itself, but it has nothing to do with the salary, recruitment cost, or onboarding of the people who use that software, or the people you're trying to hire in the first place.
CCP (Career Conversion Programme)
The Career Conversion Programme (CCP) is administered by Workforce Singapore (WSG) — a different agency altogether from Enterprise Singapore, which is itself a useful clue that it operates on different logic.
CCP provides direct salary support for two scenarios:
- Hiring mid-career talent (typically aged 40 and above) into a new role at your company
- Reskilling existing staff to take on a different role within your organisation
The funding levels are specific and generous:
- Up to 90% of monthly salary funded, capped at $7,500 per month, for candidates aged 40+ or those who are long-term unemployed
- Up to 70%, capped at $5,000 per month, for other eligible candidates
- Support runs for 3 to 12 months, depending on the role type and programme track
Is CCP a hiring grant? Yes — unambiguously. CCP is the only one of these three grants that directly subsidises the cost of a person on your payroll, whether that's a new hire or an existing employee being moved into a different role. If your starting point was "I want help with my hiring plan" and you've been reading about EDG and PSG, CCP is very likely the grant you were actually looking for.
EDG vs PSG vs CCP: side-by-side comparison
| EDG | PSG | CCP | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administering Agency | Enterprise Singapore | Enterprise Singapore | Workforce Singapore (WSG) |
| What It Funds | Business transformation projects (Core Capabilities, Innovation & Productivity, Market Access) — usually consultant/vendor-led | Adoption of pre-approved IT solutions and equipment (e.g. HR systems, accounting software, automation) | Salary support for hiring mid-career talent (40+) into new roles, or reskilling existing staff into new roles |
| Typical Support Level | Up to 50% of qualifying project costs (confirm current rate at application) | Up to 50% of costs for solutions on the pre-approved list (confirm current rate at application) | Up to 90% of monthly salary (capped at $7,500/mo for 40+ or long-term unemployed); up to 70% (capped at $5,000/mo) otherwise. 3–12 months |
| Is It a Hiring/Headcount Grant? | No — funds project scope, not salaries | No — funds software/equipment cost, not people | Yes — directly subsidises salary cost |
| Best For | Businesses running a defined transformation project with consultancy support (e.g. org restructure, new HR strategy/systems) | Businesses adopting specific software or equipment from the pre-approved list (e.g. a new HRMS or payroll system) | Businesses hiring or reskilling people — especially mid-career hires into new roles |
Which businesses should consider which grant?
The honest answer is: it depends on what you're actually trying to do, and for many SMEs the answer involves more than one of these grants.
If your goal is hiring a mid-career professional (40+) into a new role, or reskilling an existing employee for a different role, CCP should be your starting point. It's the only one of the three with direct salary support, and the funding levels — up to 90% of monthly salary, capped at $7,500/month, for 3 to 12 months — can materially change the economics of a hiring decision, particularly for a candidate whose background doesn't perfectly match the role on paper but who brings strong transferable skills.
If you're investing in HR or business management software — say, you've outgrown your spreadsheet-based payroll process and want to move to a proper HRMS, or you need a new accounting or CRM system — PSG may help with the cost of that software itself. Note this is entirely separate from any hiring decision; PSG addresses the tooling, not the people.
If you're undertaking a broader business transformation project — redesigning your org structure, building new internal capabilities, or working with consultants on a strategic HR overhaul — EDG's Core Capabilities pillar might apply to the scope of that project. But again, EDG won't extend to covering the ongoing salaries of any new roles that emerge from the project.
Here's the part most SMEs don't realise: these grants are not mutually exclusive. A company could, in principle, pursue PSG support for a new HR management system, and separately apply for CCP support for the new HR manager hired to run it. Or use EDG to fund a job redesign and capability-building project, while using CCP to fund the salary of an employee being reskilled into one of the redesigned roles. These schemes sit in different "lanes" — software costs, project costs, and salary costs — and a single hiring or restructuring plan can sometimes touch all three lanes at once.
The challenge is that most business owners only ever encounter one of these grants at a time, usually because a vendor or consultant who specialises in one scheme mentions it — without flagging that a separate scheme might also apply to a different part of the same plan. This is exactly the kind of gap a free eligibility check can close: mapping your hiring plan, your software needs, and any broader transformation project against all three schemes (and others) to see where support genuinely stacks up, rather than chasing a single grant in isolation.
How HRGrant.com can help with CCP
If your search for "EDG vs PSG vs CCP" was really driven by a hiring question — bringing in a mid-career hire, reskilling someone into a new role, or restructuring your team with salary support in mind — CCP is the grant that matters most to you, and it's also where the application process tends to be the most detailed.
CCP applications involve identifying which of your roles actually qualify under the programme's criteria, structuring the role and training plan correctly, preparing the supporting documentation WSG requires, and then managing the process through to claims disbursement once the hire or reskilling placement is in place. Each of these steps has its own requirements, and getting them wrong can mean delays, rejected claims, or missing out on funding you were otherwise entitled to.
This is HRGrant.com's specialist focus. As an independent grant consultancy working specifically within Workforce Singapore's workforce schemes, we help Singapore businesses:
- Identify which roles in their hiring or restructuring plan are eligible for Career Conversion Programme (CCP) support, and at what funding level
- Prepare and submit CCP applications, including the documentation and role/training structuring WSG expects
- Manage the process through to claims disbursement — so the salary support actually lands, rather than stalling partway through
If your hiring plan involves bringing in experienced talent, reskilling existing staff into new roles, or restructuring your team with cost support in mind, it's worth finding out exactly what CCP could mean for your specific situation before you proceed.
Get in touch for a free consultation and we'll walk through your hiring plan and what CCP support could look like for it.
FAQ
Can I apply for EDG, PSG, and CCP at the same time? In principle, yes — they're administered by different agencies (Enterprise Singapore for EDG and PSG, Workforce Singapore for CCP) and cover different cost categories (project costs, software/equipment costs, and salary costs respectively). A company could pursue more than one at the same time if it has genuinely separate, qualifying activities for each. That said, eligibility rules, funding caps, and any restrictions on combining support should always be confirmed against current official guidelines or with a grant consultant before assuming multiple schemes will stack.
Do I need a consultant to apply for these grants? It's not a strict requirement for every scheme, but it's common practice — particularly for EDG, where projects are typically run with a pre-approved consultant or vendor by design. For CCP, while businesses can apply directly to WSG, the eligibility criteria, role structuring, and documentation requirements are detailed enough that many businesses choose to work with a specialist to avoid delays or rejected claims.
Which grant should I look at first if I'm not sure? Start with what you're actually trying to achieve. If the core of your plan is "I need to hire someone or move an existing employee into a new role", look at CCP first — it's the one that directly affects your salary costs. If your plan centres on buying or upgrading software or equipment, PSG is the more relevant starting point. If you're planning a larger transformation project with consultancy support, EDG's Core Capabilities pillar may be worth exploring. A free eligibility check can help map your specific plan against all three (and other schemes) at once.
What if my plan involves both new software and a new hire? This is exactly the kind of situation where it's worth checking more than one grant. The software cost and the hiring cost sit in different "lanes" — PSG addresses the former, CCP the latter — and there's no inherent conflict in pursuing both for the same overall plan, provided each component meets its own scheme's eligibility criteria.
The bigger picture
EDG, PSG, and CCP are just three of the schemes that make up Singapore's hiring and HR grant landscape, and as this article has hopefully made clear, knowing which "lane" each one sits in — projects, software, or salaries — is the key to figuring out which applies to you. If you want the fuller picture, including other Workforce Singapore schemes that support hiring, reskilling, and job redesign, see Singapore Hiring & HR Grants: The Complete Guide, the complete guide to Singapore's hiring and HR grant landscape.
HRGrant.com is an independent grant consultancy and is not Workforce Singapore (WSG), Enterprise Singapore, or any government agency, nor is it endorsed by or affiliated with them. The grants described are administered by these and other government bodies. Funding rates, caps, durations and eligibility shown here are indicative and subject to the prevailing official guidelines, which may change — confirm against current WSG / Enterprise Singapore information before applying.