Workers under the employment insurance system who took childcare leave become entitled to parental or childcare leave subsidy by satisfying certain conditions. However, their incomes generally decrease from what they were paid before leave. To compensate for the shortfall, the government has introduced another childcare leave support subsidy program in April 2025. This article explains about this new program.
[1] Requirements
The new parental/childcare leave support subsidy is provided when both mother and father took childcare leave of at least 14 days within a certain period after the birth of a child. The subsidy is paid for up to 28 days. Following are the requirements.
1. Requirement of employee
To take a total of at least 14 days of childcare leave applicable to the parental or childcare leave subsidy for the same child during a designated period(*)
2. Requirement of employee’s spouse
To take a total of at least 14 days of childcare leave during the period between “the date of the child’s birth or the expected date of confinement, whichever comes earlier,” and “the next day of the day when 8 weeks elapsed from the date of the child’s birth or the expected date of confinement, whichever comes later;” or to fall under the separately designated situation where “the spouse’s childcare leave is not required,” as of the next day of the child’s birth.
(*) “A designated period” refers to the following.
[In the case of an employee who did not take maternal leave (the employe is the child’s father or the child was adopted.)]
The period between “the date of the child’s birth or the expected date of confinement, whichever comes earlier” and “the next day of the day when 8 weeks elapsed from the date of the child’s birth or the expected date of confinement, whichever comes later.”
[In the case of an employee who took maternal leave (the employee gave birth to the child)]
The period between “the date of the child’s birth or the expected date of confinement, whichever comes earlier” and “the next day of the day when 16 weeks elapsed from the date of the child’s birth or the expected date of confinement, whichever comes later.”
If an employee is currently under childcare leave that began before April 1, 2025, the underlined parts should read as “April 1, 2025.”
[2] Amount of the subsidy and application procedure
The amount of the subsidy is 13% of the employee’s wage, calculated based on the salary paid over the six months preceding the leave. Combined with parental/childcare leave subsidy worth 67% of the salary, it is possible to receive almost full amount of a monthly salary.
Application must be submitted along with the parental/childcare leave subsidy application.
Employees may have various backgrounds when they take childcare leave, e.g., spouses do not have a job or the employees are single parents. Even in a case where a spouse does not work, and therefore does not meet the requirement of childcare leave, the support subsidy may be provided by submitting declaration documents as required.
[Reference]
The Labour Ministry, “Outline of childcare leave subsidies”
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/0000135090_00001.html
*The information is based on laws and regulations as of the date of this article.
