The whole library

Glossary

192 terms in plain English.

2

250% deduction

The tax rule that lets a donor to an IPC deduct two and a half times the gift from taxable income. §7.6

A

ACPW (Advisory Committee on Platform Workers)

See Advisory Committee on Platform Workers. Follow the Plate, D.8

Advisory Committee on Platform Workers

The committee whose 2022 report, accepted in full, led to the Platform Workers Act; its chart of self-employed incomes holds the one official hawker income figure. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.2 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.5 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.8.1

Affordability Compact

The plan's split of the affordable-food promise: certified and new-entrant stalls price freely, any budget meal kept as policy is compensated by the state, and needy diners get Makan Vouchers. §2.5

AMR (Assessed Market Rent)

NEA's valuation of what a stall should rent for. Renewal rents move toward it; the median AMR for non-subsidised cooked-food stalls was $1,250 when last given to Parliament (November 2024). §1.3 · §2.2

Annual value

The yearly rent IRAS reckons a home could fetch. It is one of the means tests for MRSS and other schemes. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.6

Annuitise

To turn savings into a monthly income for life. CPF LIFE does this from 65 with the Retirement Account. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.1 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.6

Archetype

One of the model's six representative stalls: NEA subsidised, NEA tendered, operator-run centre, HDB-rented coffeeshop, private coffeeshop and mall food court. Follow the Plate, D.3

At Your Table

The celadon boxes throughout the papers that translate each mechanism into what changes for the diner at lunch. §colophon

At-risk count

The yearly count of stalls at risk, from hawkers' voluntary signals (no successor in view, stopping within three years) and public facts. Published only as national and per-centre totals, never naming a stall; kept apart from the Regulars' List. §3.6 · §7.7

B

Basic Healthcare Sum (BHS)

The MediSave ceiling, $79,000 in 2026. Once a self-employed member's MediSave reaches it, further contributions flow into the Special or Retirement Account, up to the Full Retirement Sum. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.6

Bench

The Relief-Hawker Corps' pool of trained relief cooks on call at a centre, about ten for every 100 stalls. §2.7

Bloc

A group of workers in a similar position, such as employees, platform workers or hawkers, compared side by side in Hawkers and Social Protection. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.1 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.3

Board observer

A non-voting board seat for givers. One is proposed by the Founding Plate Partners and one by community donors, from an open call; the board vets and approves each. Observers may speak but do not vote or join a quorum. §3.8

Bond ladder

Treasury bills and Singapore Government Securities that mature as each of the next three years' funding gaps falls due, so money needed soon never meets the market. §7.6

Bridge grant

A temporary grant that covers a funding gap until the endowment is fully raised. §7.6

BTO (Build-To-Order)

Singapore's system of allocating new public flats by ballot. The plan borrows the idea for allocating stalls. §the-plan · §2.2 · §7.7

Burn

The running cost of the institution's team and office, as a young company counts it each month. §7.1

Buying Circles

Small groups of hawkers at each centre, formed through their own association, that pool weekly orders so suppliers compete for them on an open board (§2.12). A pooled order is cheaper to serve; supplier and cook share the saving. §2.12 · §7.1

C

Capture (θ) (Landlord capture, theta)

The share of any stall-attached support a landlord takes back by raising the rent at the next renewal. The model assumes 0% for subsidised NEA stalls up to 95% for mall food courts. Follow the Plate, D.5 · Follow the Plate, D.7.2 · Method, Levers and Data, F.2

Cash leverage

Leverage counting only the money a household can spend now, leaving out savings paid into CPF such as MediSave, Workfare and retirement matches. Follow the Plate, D.7

Casting vote

The Government director's one power on the Seed Bank's board: it decides any tied board decision, the pilot centres included. It cannot override a Hawker Council veto, and every use is published within 30 days, with the reasons. §3.8

CAYE (Contribute-as-you-earn)

CPF deducting MediSave from each payment as it is earned, instead of an annual bill. It exists for self-employed people serving government agencies, not for hawkers. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4 · §2.11.1 · §2.11.2

CCCS (Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore)

The competition regulator, which fined 13 fresh-chicken distributors for price-fixing in 2018. Follow the Plate, D.5.3

CDAC (Chinese Development Assistance Council)

A self-help group for the Chinese community. §7.9

CDC vouchers (Community Development Council vouchers)

Government vouchers given to every household in tranches ($300 in January 2026, $500 in June 2026), half spendable at hawkers and heartland merchants. Over 24,000 merchants accept them on RedeemSG. §1.3 · §2.5

Clawback

A rule that takes money back if it is not passed on as intended, as HDB's rule does for support meant for stallholders. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.7

Close

A fundraising milestone: the campaign has a first, a second and a final close, the last at $40M. §7.6

Co-contribution

The Government paying a share into a worker's own CPF account, as an employer or a platform does for its workers. §1.1 · §2.11.1

Cohort

A group of apprentices or Fellows who start together. §3.3

ComCare

The Government's cash help for people in need, run by MSF; its short-to-medium-term assistance is the only income help a sick hawker has unless he holds a policy. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4

ComCare Long-Term Assistance

A last-resort payment, $760 a month for one person, for those permanently unable to work with little family support. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.6

ComCare Short-to-Medium-Term Assistance

Means-tested, last-resort cash help from MSF for people temporarily unable to work, for example through illness, usually for three to six months. The only income help a hawker has when illness shuts the stall, unless he has bought a policy. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4

Community Liaison Officer

The programme's on-the-ground contact at each pilot centre, its first member of staff there, who talks with hawkers' families about succession. §4.7 · the Budget Book, B.3

Conservancy charge

The monthly charge a stallholder pays for the cleaning and upkeep of a centre's common areas, on top of rent. §2.2 · Follow the Plate, D.2.2

Corpus

The endowment's invested capital, which the draw is taken from and which gifts join. §7.6 · the Budget Book, B.9

Counterparty (Contributing counterparty)

Someone who pays a share of a worker's CPF: the employer for an employee, the platform for a younger or opted-in rider. A hawker has none, so the Protection Floor proposes a Government match for stallholders under 55. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4 · §2.11.1

CPF (Central Provident Fund)

Singapore's compulsory savings system for retirement, health and housing. Employers and employees pay in for employees; a self-employed hawker is only required to pay MediSave. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.6

CPF LIFE

The national annuity that turns a Retirement Account into monthly income from 65. A hawker who has only paid MediSave has little in that account, since only MediSave above the Basic Healthcare Sum flows into it. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.1 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.6

Culinary Seed Bank

The plan's proposed non-profit knowledge institution, hawker-led and independently governed. It documents endangered dishes, trains and lands successors, and holds no regulatory powers or exclusive rights. §3.1 · §3.8

D

Decile

One tenth of a ranked list. The second decile is the second-lowest tenth: in the papers, the second-poorest tenth of earners. §1.1

Deemed approved

Taken as approved if NEA has not objected within a set time, as the plan asks for the relief notice. §2.7 · §2.11.1

Demand elasticity

How much custom falls when prices rise. One small, non-random Singapore survey finds diners more sensitive (Poh, 2026); the model assumes −0.5, so a 1% price rise loses about 0.5% of plates, varied from −0.3 to −1.0. Method, Levers and Data, F.2.1 · Method, Levers and Data, F.2

Dependent contractor (ICSE-18) (International Classification of Status in Employment, 2018)

An ILO category for workers on commercial terms who depend on another unit, which can be a government, for access to their market. Hawkers and Social Protection argues hawkers are dependent contractors of the state. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.1 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.2

DOS (Department of Statistics)

Singapore's statistics office, also known as SingStat. Follow the Plate, D.5.4

Draw

The share of the endowment spent each year: 3.5% of its value, then of its three-year average. §7.6

Draw trigger

The rule that cuts the endowment's draw to 3% if continuing gifts fall below half their Year 3–5 average for two years running, until they recover. §7.6 · the Budget Book, B.9.4

E

Earmark

To set money aside for one use: continuing gifts set aside for the retirement match instead of joining the endowment. the Budget Book, B.9.5

Earn and Save Bonus

A payment of $400–$1,000 a year into retirement savings for workers born in 1973 or earlier who still earn $500–$6,000 a month. It stops when the hawker stops working. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.6

Endangered Dish Registry

The ranked register of at-risk dishes, the second part of §3.6, kept with NHB and communities and ranked by fragility and cultural weight. Every listed stall has a page there; its open fragility test decides when a Fellowship is offered. §3.6

Escrow

An account held by a neutral party that collects and pays out money under agreed terms. The Seed Bank's escrow administers mortgage and royalty payments for a 1.5% fee. §4.3 · §4.4

Extended HSS (The Hawkers Succession Scheme, extended)

The plan's extension of HSS: goodwill paid through the Succession Mortgage, rent gliding to band over three years, wider eligibility, paid mentorship and no signature-dish price freeze. §2.3 · §7.7

F

Family Name Royalty

2.5% of gross revenue paid to a master's family for ten years at most whenever a stall or product trades under the master's name. It starts once the Succession Mortgage is retired; it can be bought out early. §4.4 · Succession Economics, E.1

First-loss guarantee

A promise to cover the first losses if a borrower fails. The Seed Bank covers up to 24 monthly mortgage payments, and 50% of equipment-finance losses, so lenders and retirees accept the risk. §3.4 · §4.3

FMAS (Federation of Merchants' Associations, Singapore)

The federation that has spoken for the hawker trade since 1989, with an association at each of more than 110 centres. It holds a voting seat on the Hawker Council and, with the centre associations, is the hawkers' bargaining body. §1.2 · the Record, A.1.2 · §3.8 · §2.11.1

Follow the Gift

The funding model in the Budget Book (B.9). It follows the plan's own money from the people who give it, through the endowment, bond ladder and spending account, to what it buys, over twenty years and 5,000 futures. the Budget Book, B.9 · §7.6

Follow-the-Plate model

Follow the Plate's open model (plate_model.py) of one cooked-food stall for one month in six landlord types, tracing each diner dollar and scoring each proposal. B.colophon · Method, Levers and Data, F.2

Founding Plate Partner

A profitable F&B business pledging 0.5% of its three-year average pre-tax profit to the endowment for five years, or 1% if it sells hawker heritage directly. Operators may meet half as rent rebates to heritage stalls. §7.6

FTE (Full-time equivalent)

One person's full-time work, used to count staff in the ledgers: 0.5 FTE is a half-time role. the Budget Book, B.2

Full loop

The whole chain at one centre: a master teaches, the dish is documented, an apprentice is trained, a graduate lands in a stall and succession is paid. §6.3

G

Gate criteria

The five conditions the evaluator must certify across all the pilot centres, at month 43 or later after the Lighthouses open, before the programme goes beyond five centres. §6.5

Gifts set aside

Continuing gifts the programme does not need in a year, earmarked for the retirement match instead of joining the endowment. The match tables set aside half of them from Year 4; the adopted plan sets aside none. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.8.1 · the Budget Book, B.9.5

GIRO

A bank's automatic payment from an account, used to pay MediSave bills in monthly instalments. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4

Goodwill

The value of a stall's name, recipes and queue. With no stall to sell, it is the main thing a retiring hawker has to pass on; the plan prices it at 12–18 months of verified net profit. §4.3 · Succession Economics, E.1

Graduate Landing Package

What every Seed Bank graduate receives: a stall, a cash rent rebate of 30% of the band for 24 months, financed equipment, an income top-up and mentoring, at about $20,000 per graduate. §3.4

Grant track

Philanthropic funding of the full Fellowship and documentation for dishes that matter culturally but have no commercial successor. §4.5

GST (Goods and services tax)

Singapore's 9% tax on goods and services. Hawkers selling under $1 million a year are not registered. Follow the Plate, D.5.3

H

Hawker Centre 3.0 Committee

The Government committee of 2016–17, chaired by Dr Amy Khor, whose eleven recommendations, all accepted, became the HDP, the incubation stalls and the Productivity Grant. §1.2 · the Record, A.7 · §3.6

Hawker Centres Public Consultation Panel

The 18-member panel of 2011–12, chaired by Elim Chew, that proposed operator-run centres, rents set in advance by food type and central bulk buying. §1.2 · the Record, A.7 · §2.2

Hawker Council

Nine stallholders elected by cluster from everyone enrolled, and a tenth member named by FMAS, with a full vote. It holds the hawker vetoes over the Seed Bank's own decisions, nominates the hawker directors and hears the annual plan. §3.8

Hawker Council and board line

The governance line in every Part VII ledger: Hawker Council fees and elections, and directors' stall-visit vouchers. It is $17,000 in Year 0 and $22,200 to $34,200 a year in Years 1–3. §3.8 · the Budget Book, B.2 · the Budget Book, B.3 · the Budget Book, B.4 · the Budget Book, B.5

Hawker Endowment

The proposed $40M fund (a $15M Government anchor, a $10M pool matching gifts until it is used, and $15M of gifts) invested with a fixed-income core and drawn at 3.5% a year, to help pay for the programme in perpetuity. §7.6 · §7.7

Hawker Protection Floor

Hawkers and Social Protection's proposed floor for every stallholder whoever the landlord: MediSave as you earn, a retirement match, injury and hospital-cash cover, and a livelihood dataset. It is costed at two scopes, base and stretch. §2.11.1 · §2.11.2 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.8.1

Hawker-years (Sustained hawker-years)

The plan's headline success measure: cumulative years graduates and Fellows' successors keep a stall running after the programme. The target is at least 40 by end of Year 5. §1.5 · §3.5

HDB (Housing & Development Board)

Singapore's public housing authority. It rents 374 of the 776 coffeeshops in its estates to operators, who sublet the stalls (2024), so it is a head landlord for many coffeeshop hawkers. §2.1 · §2.4 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.7

HDB tender lever

Scoring stallholder protection in HDB coffeeshop tenders. Operators who fund their stallholders' retirement bid lower rents, so HDB forgoes up to about $1.8M a year, offered as HDB's contribution to hawker heritage. §2.4 · §7.7 · Follow the Plate, D.7.5

HDP (Hawkers' Development Programme)

NEA and SkillsFuture's 2020 training programme for aspiring hawkers. Of 566 trained, 120 completed the apprenticeship and about 2.8% were still operating a stall; it is under review. §1.1 · §1.2 · §3.3

Head landlord

The owner who leases a building to an operator, who then lets its stalls: HDB for its rented coffeeshops, the State for a hawker centre. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.7 · §2.2

Heritage Anchor (Heritage Anchor Partnership)

A certified heritage stall a coffeeshop or food court hosts voluntarily at a Band-B-equivalent rent, in return for signage, relief cover for the whole shop, and recognition. §2.4 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.7

Heritage Excellence rebate

A rent rebate for certified stalls that opt in and keep the Taste Council standard; the only financial link to certification. §5.1 · §5.2

Heritage Plate

A certification mark, registered with IPOS, that businesses license to serve one master's documented dish. Diners pay a disclosed 50 cents a certified plate: 40% to the master's family, 40% to the retirement match, 20% to the Seed Bank. §5.5 · the Budget Book, B.6.1

Heritage-worthy stall

A proxy used to size each pilot centre's budget: a stall in the MICHELIN Guide or with a Hawker Heritage Award (Tier 1), or documented as running 30 years or more or in its second generation (Tier 2). §7.1 · the Budget Book, B.9.6

HES (Household Expenditure Survey)

SingStat's survey, every five years or so, of what households spend. Follow the Plate, D.2.1

HPG (Hawkers' Productivity Grant)

A grant that co-funded 80% of hawkers' automation purchases, capped at $7,000, for about 1,150 stallholders. Its last phase closed on 31 March 2026, and NEA says the next will be announced; it never covered repairs. §1.3 · §2.9

HSS (Hawkers Succession Scheme)

NEA's 2022 scheme letting retiring veterans assign their stall, recipes and skills to a non-family successor, with a paired apprenticeship and a tasting evaluation. Six transfers had completed by September 2025. §1.2 · §1.3 · §2.3

HUP (Hawker Centres Upgrading Programme)

The Government's programme for upgrading older hawker centres; its second phase, HUP 2.0, began in March 2025. §1.3

I

IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer)

The WHO agency that classifies cooking fumes and other hazards by cancer risk. §2.9

ILO (International Labour Organization)

The UN agency whose 2018 classification counts dependent contractors as a group of their own. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.2

Incidence

Who ends up with the benefit of a payment or the cost of a tax, after prices and rents adjust. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.7 · Follow the Plate, D.7.2

Incidence rule

Hawkers and Social Protection's rule that where a market sets the rent, support attached to a stall leaks to the landlord at renewal, so support should attach to the person instead. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.7 · Follow the Plate, D.7.2

Incubation Stall Programme

An NEA scheme giving new hawkers a pre-fitted stall at subsidised rent for 15 months. §1.3 · §3.4

Independent evaluator

An IPS- or NUS-calibre research team contracted before launch, with unconditional rights to publish its findings, that grades the programme and publishes the market data. §6.4 · §2.10

IPC (Institution of a Public Character)

A charity approved to issue tax-deductible receipts: donors get a 250% deduction, extended to the end of 2029. Until the Seed Bank qualifies, early gifts go through a donor-advised fund at an existing IPC. §7.6

IPOS (Intellectual Property Office of Singapore)

The office that registers marks; the Heritage Plate would be registered with it. §5.5

IPS (Institute of Policy Studies)

The NUS think-tank whose Makan Index measured hawker prices by town and type of outlet. Follow the Plate, D.5.4

IRAS (Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore)

The tax authority. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.6 · Follow the Plate, D.5.3

J

Joint operator

A citizen or PR whom NEA lets share a stall's operation since 2012: one per stall, in hours that do not overlap with the stallholder's, at least 4 hours every business day. The Relief-Hawker Corps builds on it. §2.7 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.2 · §2.11.1

L

Ledgers

The year-by-year cost tables of the plan's budget, Years 0 to 3, each in two parts: the operating budget and the programme budget. §7.1

Lever

A setting the plan can turn up or down, such as a rent band or a voucher's size, with what breaks if it is turned too far. Method, Levers and Data, F.2

Leverage

In Follow the Plate, the gain to hawker households plus the gain to diners, divided by the programme's cost: dollars of benefit per public dollar spent. Follow the Plate, D.7

Lighthouse

Each of the two pilot centres that open in Year 1, Chinatown Complex (after its delayed repairs) and Geylang Serai, side by side, where every mechanism runs together; Tekka joins in Year 2, five centres at most. §6.3

Locum test

The completion test for a Technique Genome entry: a relief cook working only from the file must serve the dish at the stall to the Taste Council's satisfaction. §3.2 · §2.7

LQS (Local Qualifying Salary)

The minimum monthly pay a firm must give its local workers for them to count towards its foreign-worker quota. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4

M

Makan Vouchers

The plan's proposed permanent CDC-voucher tranche for lower-income households, seniors and students, ring-fenced for hawker and heartland coffeeshop stalls: about $120 a year to some 550,000 households. §2.5 · §7.7 · Follow the Plate, D.7.3

Management control

The Platform Workers Act's test: an operator that uses data to decide who works, on what and for what pay, and restricts how the work is done, owes its workers CPF and injury cover. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.2 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4

Margin spread

The Plate Ledger's proposed quarterly line comparing retail and wholesale prices of hawker staples with the import price index: if the middle of the supply chain starts taking more, it shows there first. §2.10 · Follow the Plate, D.8

Master Fellow (Master Fellowship)

A master hawker appointed for three years: a teaching year at $2,500 a month, then two years' stewardship at $1,000 a month, on identical terms worth $90,750 in all, CPF included. Fellows keep their stall and may teach anyone. §4.2

Matched Retirement Savings (Matched Retirement Savings Scheme)

A scheme where Government matches top-ups to retirement savings dollar for dollar, up to $2,000 a year, from 55 (and for persons with disabilities of any age from 2026), within means tests: $456M for 2025. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.6 · §2.11.1

Matching pool

The $10M of public money that matches diners' and companies' gifts dollar for dollar until it is used. §7.6

MCCY (Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth)

The ministry that told Parliament on 7 October 2026 that the Government keeps no list of hawker trades at risk of disappearing. §1.1 · §3.6 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.5

Means-tested

Paid only to those whose income, home and savings fall below set limits, as MRSS and Silver Support are. the Record, A.7 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.6

Median

The middle value of a ranked list: half the figures lie above it and half below. The papers quote median rents, incomes and ages because a few very large figures do not move it. §1.1 · Follow the Plate, D.4

MediSave

The CPF account for healthcare. Self-employed hawkers pay 4–10.5% of net trade income above $6,000, billed yearly and payable by GIRO; the stall licence is not renewed with arrears. It also pays MediShield Life premiums. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.6

MediShield Life and CareShield Life

National health and long-term care insurance that covers every worker bloc, with premiums paid from MediSave. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.6

MOM (Ministry of Manpower)

The labour ministry. It runs work passes, the Progressive Wage Model and the Platform Workers Act, and publishes platform workers' CPF and injury statistics. §2.8 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.5

Monte Carlo

Running the model 5,000 times per stall type with randomly drawn assumptions, to show how much the results depend on uncertain inputs. Follow the Plate, D.4 · Method, Levers and Data, F.2.2

MSE (Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment)

The ministry NEA reports to. Most official figures on hawker rents, costs and schemes in the papers come from its parliamentary replies. §references · B.sources

MTI (Ministry of Trade and Industry)

The ministry whose 2015 study measured how hawker prices follow costs. Follow the Plate, D.5.1

N

Named deputy

A short-cover joint operator: one registered assistant, named by the stallholder, may run the stall for up to an hour a day, logged like the relief notice, without the four-hour minimum (§2.7). §2.7 · §7.7

NEA (National Environment Agency)

The government agency that runs Singapore's public hawker centres: it tenders and lets the stalls, sets the tenancy rules and collects rent. §2.1 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.2 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.7

Net requirement

What the plan must raise in a year after its own programme income: the bottom line of each Part VII ledger. §7.1 · the Budget Book, B.2

Net trade income

A self-employed person's yearly profit after business costs. Hawkers pay MediSave on it. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.6

NHB (National Heritage Board)

The heritage agency that would co-keep the Endangered Dish Registry, sit on the Seed Bank board as a non-voting liaison, and receive the archive if the programme winds up. §3.6 · §3.8 · §7.8

O

O&M (Operations and maintenance)

The fees a coffeeshop or food-court operator charges stallholders for running and upkeep. Follow the Plate, D.8

Operating match

The Government's yearly grant towards the Seed Bank's running costs: $300K, $400K and $500K in Years 1–3. §7.6 · the Budget Book, B.9

Order

One customer's purchase at the counter, of one plate or several: a family's takeaway is one order. The Regulars' List's share route counts orders, not plates. §3.6 · Follow the Plate, D.4.2

Own-account

Working for oneself with no employee. MOM's one measured hawker income is for full-time own-account hawkers and stall holders. §1.1 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.3

P

P&L (Profit and loss)

A stall's profit and loss account: takings less costs. G.2

Pass-through

How much of a cost rise reaches the diner's price. From MTI's 2015 study, the model passes on $1.25 per extra dollar of ingredient cost but only $0.35 per extra dollar of rent. Follow the Plate, D.5.1 · Method, Levers and Data, F.2

PDPA (Personal Data Protection Act)

The law on personal data; the at-risk count is published only as totals, in line with it. §3.6

Percentile

The level a given share of results stays below: P90 is the figure 90 in 100 simulated stalls or futures stay below. Follow the Plate, D.4 · Succession Economics, E.1.5

Periodic report

The report each State sends UNESCO every six years on how it safeguards its inscribed heritage; Singapore's first, in December 2024, gave no count of hawkers or stalls at risk. The next is due on 30 June 2027. §3.6 · §7.7

Personal-operation rule

The tenancy rule that a hawker-centre stallholder must work the stall personally, at least 4 hours a business day, and cannot leave it to assistants. NEA may approve one joint operator, or a nominee during illness. §1.3 · §2.7 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.2 · §2.11.1

Plate Ledger

Follow the Plate's proposed one-page yearly account of where a typical plate's dollar goes, by type of landlord, published by the independent evaluator. Follow the Plate, D.8 · §2.10

Plate Tracker

The twenty indicators behind the Plate Ledger, among them the margin spread, the floor cost by type of centre and the count of stalls at risk. Singapore publishes 3 regularly, 10 in part and 7 not at all. Follow the Plate, D.8

PMET (Professionals, managers, executives and technicians)

The group of workers whose foreign hires must meet a salary floor; the papers set it beside the wage ladders that cover lower-wage jobs. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4

PQM (Price-Quality Method)

HDB's tender method for coffeeshops, scoring bids on both price and quality; quality carries 60% of the score. §2.4 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.7 · B.sources

PR (Permanent resident)

A permanent resident of Singapore. A joint operator or a relief cook must be a citizen or a permanent resident. §2.11.1

Programme cost and net public cost

Programme cost is the Budget line. Net public cost adds changes in Workfare paid and subtracts extra income tax and any support the state recovers as landlord. Follow the Plate, D.7

Protected income

The $1,500 a month of profit that a Succession Mortgage payment, and later the royalty, never takes a successor below. In a lean quarter the payment shrinks or pauses and the term lengthens. §4.3 · §4.4

Protection Floor, base and stretch

Two scopes of one costing. Base: a match of up to $1,200 for every public-centre stallholder under 55, at most about $4.1M a year. Stretch: every stallholder under 55 at 70% take-up, with hospital-cash cover, about $8.0M a year. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.8.1 · §2.11.2 · Follow the Plate, D.7.5

Proxy

A stand-in measure, used where the real one is not published: the heritage-worthy count stands in for how many stalls need saving. §3.6 · the Budget Book, B.9.6

PWA (Platform Workers Act 2024)

The law that, from 1 January 2025, gave riders and drivers work-injury insurance and a bargaining agent, and platform-paid CPF to those born in 1995 or later or who opt in. It does not cover the hawker. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.1 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.2 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4

PWM (Progressive Wage Model)

Singapore's sector wage ladders for lower-wage workers. The food-stall assistant benchmark is $2,220 a month from July 2026 and $2,500 from July 2028; it does not apply to individually run stalls. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4 · Follow the Plate, D.1 · Follow the Plate, D.4 · Follow the Plate, D.6

Q

QA (Quality assurance)

Checking that work meets its standard; the Corps cooks are the living quality check on the archive. §2.7

Quartile

One quarter of a ranked list. The papers ask for rents and incomes as quartiles and a mean, not only a median, so the lowest and highest quarters show. §2.10 · Follow the Plate, D.8

R

R&R (Repairs and redecoration)

NEA's cycle of repairs and redecoration at each hawker centre, every six to eight years. §1.3

Rails

The schemes and payment systems the Government already runs, such as the CDC voucher system and CPF, which the plan builds on. §1.2 · §1.3

Real value

Value after inflation. The endowment keeps its real value if it ends a year worth at least its target in today's dollars. §7.6 · the Budget Book, B.9

RedeemSG

The digital platform on which hawkers and heartland merchants accept CDC vouchers; the proposed Makan Vouchers would run on it. §2.5

Regular

One named person who says he orders from a stall at least once a week, to eat there or to take away. The Regulars' List counts regulars by name, one endorsement a person. §3.6 · Follow the Plate, D.4.2

Regulars' List

The first part of §3.6, at every government centre from Year 1: dishes a centre's regulars want kept. Bronze at 20 endorsements, then Silver, Gold and Platinum by count or share of weekly orders. A compliment, never a Fellowship gate. §3.6

Relief notice

The change the Relief-Hawker Corps asks of NEA: a pre-registered Corps cook becomes a joint operator for the days of a hawker's absence, up to 30 a year, without the four-hour duty, deemed approved within two working days. §2.7 · §7.7 · §2.11.1

Relief-Hawker Corps

The plan's pool of trained relief cooks a hawker can book for illness or rest, built on NEA's joint-operator and nominee routes so cover comes in two working days. §2.7 · §2.11.1

Renewal risk

In Follow the Plate, one standard deviation of the rent change at renewal, net of what can be passed on, as a share of the hawker's income. Follow the Plate, D.5

Rent bands and ballot

The plan's proposal to let vacant hawker-centre stalls at published fixed rents by centre class (indicatively $1,700, $1,150 and $650 a month) and allocate them by ballot, like BTO flats. §2.2 · §7.7

Rent break point

The rent above which a typical tendered stall's hawker earns less an hour than the assistant's Progressive Wage, with or without the package. Follow the Plate, D.4.1

Reserved matters

Decisions that need the consent of a named group, such as the Hawker Council's vetoes over the Seed Bank. §3.8

Retirement match

Money paid into a stallholder's own CPF retirement savings by someone else, as a platform does for a rider. Costed for stallholders under 55 at up to $1,200 a year; from 55 an existing scheme matches. Decision left for later. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.8.1 · §7.7 · §2.11.1 · §2.11.2

Retirement sums (BRS, FRS, ERS) (Basic, Full and Enhanced Retirement Sum)

The amounts set aside at 55 for CPF LIFE: $110,200, $220,400 and $440,800 for members turning 55 in 2026, paying about $950, $1,780 and $3,440 a month from 65. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.6

RTS Link (Johor Bahru–Singapore Rapid Transit System Link)

A cross-border rail line to Johor Bahru expected to draw spending north. Passenger service is expected from February 2027, after a delay announced in October 2026. §1.1 · Follow the Plate, D.6

S

S&CC (Service and conservancy charges)

A monthly charge hawker-centre stallholders pay for cleaning and upkeep, about $200 in 2025, on top of rent and table-cleaning fees. Follow the Plate, D.2.2

SBF (Singapore Business Federation)

The business federation that estimated how the RTS Link may draw spending to Johor. Follow the Plate, D.6

SEHC (Socially-conscious enterprise hawker centre)

A public hawker centre run by a private operator under government contract. The papers call them social-enterprise or operator-run centres; operators can set opening hours, value meals and fees. §1.2 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.2 · Follow the Plate, D.3

SEP (Self-employed person)

CPF's term for someone who earns trade income rather than wages. Hawkers are SEPs: they pay MediSave on their net trade income but no other CPF is required. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4 · Follow the Plate, D.8

SFA (Singapore Food Agency)

The agency that licenses food stalls; a stall licence is not renewed with MediSave arrears unless on a GIRO plan. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4 · Follow the Plate, D.3

SGQR

Singapore's common QR code for cashless payments at stalls. Follow the Plate, D.8

Silver Support (Silver Support Scheme)

A means-tested quarterly payment for lower-income seniors, up to $1,080 a quarter. A hawker qualifies only if average net trade income at 45–54 was $27,600 a year or less, among other tests. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.6

SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support

Income support of up to $6,000 for people who lose their jobs. People who were previously self-employed, including hawkers, are not eligible. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4

Socially-conscious enterprise operator (SEO)

An operator NEA appoints to run a government hawker centre; 16 of the 123. It also sets tenancy terms within NEA's framework, so at an operator-run pilot centre the rent bands, the ballot and the fee reset need its agreement. §6.3 · §2.2

Squeeze

In Follow the Plate, the share of a hawker's net income lost if a supplier or landlord raises its prices 10%, after the hawker passes on what it can and diners respond. Follow the Plate, D.5

Stagger

Raising a rent in stages rather than all at once: NEA's renewal rule moves a high bid halfway to its valuation for three years. §2.2

Stall baseline

A two-week till count at every consenting stall at a pilot centre before it opens: orders, plates and dollars an order, and regulars' share of orders, by dish type. It sets the Regulars' List's thresholds. §6.1 · the Budget Book, B.2 · §2.10

Stall Ownership Scheme

A 1994–97 scheme that sold about 2,000 stalls in 15 centres to sitting stallholders on 20-year leases. The leases expired in 2014–17, so no hawker in a public centre owns a stall today. §2.1

Stall-attached support

Support paid to the stall, such as a rent rebate. Where a market sets the rent, the landlord can take it back at renewal. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.7 · Follow the Plate, D.7.2

Stall-visit vouchers

Nominal Makan Vouchers, about $50 a month from the programme's own budget, that let Seed Bank directors eat at the stalls they visit. Allowed only if the constitution permits, per the Commissioner of Charities' guidance. No other director pay. §3.8

Subsidised stall

A stall held by the pioneer and legacy cohort at about $192–$384 a month, about 30% of stalls. The subsidy is personal: it passes to immediate family at the same rent, and to no other successor. §2.1 · Follow the Plate, D.3

Succession Mortgage

The plan's mechanism for the incoming cook to pay the retiring hawker for goodwill out of future takings, through escrow, with a first-loss guarantee and a protected income for the successor. §4.3 · Succession Economics, E.1

Sunset clause

The rule that winds the Seed Bank up and returns funds to donors if fewer than 20 hawkers are engaged by end of Year 3, or trust stays below 40% for two years. §3.8 · §7.8

T

Table-cleaning fee

A stallholder's monthly charge for table cleaning, a 2025 median of $520, passing on a cleaning contractor's price. The plan asks the Government for a $200 a month subsidy at the pilot centres, tested by re-tendering the contracts. §2.2 · §7.7

Take

In Follow the Plate, the share of each sales dollar a party receives, such as the supplier's or the landlord's. Follow the Plate, D.5

Take-up

The share of those eligible who join a scheme, such as the 70% enrolment the Protection Floor assumes. Follow the Plate, D.7.4 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.1

Taste Council

A panel of five retired hawker masters who taste heritage stalls blind and give one verdict: is this worthy of the name? It uses no cameras, data feeds or league tables. §5.1 · §5.2

Technique Genome

The Seed Bank's record of a dish: video, sensor logs, a tested recipe, ingredient provenance, the master's oral history and a reference taste profile, held as an open commons. §3.2

Tendered stall

A hawker-centre stall won at open tender on a three-year tenancy, about 70% of stalls. Rent moves toward assessed market rent at renewal; it cannot be sublet or sold. §2.1 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.2

Town Council

Manages an HDB-owned hawker centre's common property and collects its conservancy and table-cleaning fees: 80 of the 123 government centres. NEA stays the tenancy landlord. At a Town Council pilot centre, the fee reset needs its agreement. the Record, A.1.2 · §6.3 · §7.7

Tranche

One round of a larger payment, paid out at one time, such as a round of CDC vouchers. §1.3 · §2.5

Trust index

The share of hawkers agreeing 'this institution is on our side' in an annual anonymous survey. The target is 60%; below 40% for two years triggers the sunset clause. §3.5 · §3.8 · §6.5

U

UNESCO inscription (Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity)

UNESCO's listing of hawker culture in Singapore as intangible cultural heritage, in December 2020. §1.1

Upper bound

The most a cost or figure could be. Several costs are upper bounds, so the true figure is likely lower. Follow the Plate, D.2.2 · Follow the Plate, D.7

W

WICA (Work Injury Compensation Act)

The law that insures all employees against work injuries. Hawkers have no equivalent cover. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4

Workfare (WIS) (Workfare Income Supplement)

A government top-up for lower-income workers. Self-employed hawkers get two-thirds of the employee amount, paid yearly, 10% cash and 90% MediSave, and only if their MediSave is paid by CPF's deadline. Hawkers and Social Protection, C.4 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.6 · Method, Levers and Data, F.2