Parents of 1-year-old earn 350,000 won per month… Increase to 1 million – 500,000 won in 2024
All payments are made regardless of income or property, and child support is expanded to increase the birth rate
Starting next year, the government will set up a “Parents’ Subsidy” to support families raising children aged 0 (0-11 months) to 1 year (12-23 months) up to 700,000 won per month, regardless of income or ownership. The number of national and public kindergartens will be increased by 500 each year by 2027, and care services such as “part-time childcare” will be expanded. The aim is to strengthen childcare support to raise the domestic fertility rate, which stood at 0.81 last year.
On the 13th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare confirmed the “4th Basic Plan for Medium- and Long-Term Child Care (2023-2027)” after the deliberation of the Central Committee for Child Care Policies ‘childhood. Under the basic plan, from January next year, 0-year-olds will receive 700,000 won a month in parental allowances, and 1-year-olds 350,000 won a month. From 2024, the payment amount will increase to 1 million won and 500,000 won per month, respectively.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, a total of 323,000 people will benefit from parental benefits next year. There are 238,000 0-year-olds and 85,000 1-year-olds. The government and local governments plan to inject 2.36 trillion won into its budget.
The government has decided to strengthen not only the direct costs of raising children, but also the support for related structures and systems. First, the government plans to continuously increase the number of parent-preferred public daycare centers to increase the use of public childcare. Part-time childcare, a system used when parents have to leave their children for a period of time due to an urgent matter, will also be expanded. It was decided to improve the quality of childcare by reducing the number of infants and toddlers placed with a childcare teacher in daycare centers. Measures to strengthen the management of childcare facilities are also promoted, such as involving parents in the evaluation of childcare centres.
Lee Ki-il, first deputy minister of health and welfare, said: “As the low birth rate continues, it is more important to raise each and every child better.”
Increase the number of national and public daycare centers by 2,500 and expand part-time childcare for short-term care
700,000 won per month for parents of 0-year-old children
Deduction and payment of nursery school fees
Activation of ‘1,000 won per hour’ by increasing institutions
Better treatment of teachers by reducing the number of children in charge
The Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Basic Child Care Plan includes specific payment methods for parental benefits, which was one of President Yoon Seok-yeol’s key commitments during his candidacy, as well as measures to expand public childcare and improve the treatment of childcare teachers at day care centers. This is in response to the need to improve both the quantity and quality of childcare services in a situation where the problem of avoiding childbirth due to childcare burden is severe.
○ Parents’ salary which varies depending on whether or not they attend a nursery school
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the amount of parental allowance varies according to whether 0 or 1 year old children attend nursery schools. Currently, a child allowance of 300,000 won per month is provided to families of 0-1 year olds who do not attend day care, and 499,000 won per month of childcare fees are provided to families of 0-1 year old children who attend day care. . According to the new parental benefit, the baby allowance will disappear from next year. The childcare fee system will continue next year, but the amount corresponding to the childcare fee will be deducted from the parental allowance payment.
As a result, from January next year, zero-year-olds who do not attend daycare and are raised at home will receive parental allowances of 700,000 won in cash. On the other hand, 0-year-old children who attend daycare will receive 186,000 won in cash, the rest after deducting 514,000 won (estimated amount for next year) from their parents’ wages of 700,000 won.
Similarly, a 1-year-old child raised at home without attending daycare receives a parental salary of 350,000 won in cash. However, a 1-year-old child who attends daycare receives 514,000 won in child care fees, which is higher than the parents’ salary of 350,000 won, so they do not receive parental benefits separately.
○ Expansion of 2,500 national and public kindergartens in 5 years
The government also announced plans to expand public childcare the same day. The “public daycare utilization rate,” which refers to the ratio of public daycare users, welfare agencies, and workplace daycare to all daycare users, is currently at 37%. The government’s aim is to increase this figure to over 50% by 2027. To this end, the government plans to increase the number of national and public nurseries to 2,500 within the next five years. Previously, in the 2021 National Child Care Survey conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Children’s Policy Research Institute, the expansion of national and public daycare centers was cited as the number one child support policy that parents of babies and toddlers want from the government the most.
Part-time childcare services are also expanded. Part-time childcare is a system that allows parents to pay 1,000 won per hour to a childcare facility to care for their child for a short time when urgent matters arise. But in practice, it’s not easy to use. This is because day care centers designated as part-time childcare providers or comprehensive child support centers across the country provide services, but these institutions are not enough.
Currently, in order to provide part-time childcare at a kindergarten, a separate class is created for children receiving part-time care and the responsible teacher is shelved. In the future, we plan to allow children receiving part-time childcare to enter vacancies if the existing general class quota is not full. The government hopes this will allow more children to receive part-time care.
It was also decided to improve the standards for the inclusion of nursery teachers in nursery schools. Currently, the ratio between nursery teachers and children in the 0-year-old class is 1:3. For children over the age of 4 and a half the ratio is 1 to 20. Meanwhile, it was stressed that this ratio should be reduced to prevent child abuse and improve the treatment of teachers for early childhood.
Reporter Kim So-young ksy@donga.com
