Photo/Illutration Ayuko Kato, minister in charge of policies related to raising children and minister for measures to halt the declining birthrate, vows after the revised law to support child care and child rearing, a measure for the declining birthrate, is passed and enacted at an Upper House plenary session on June 5. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Expanded child support allowances will be paid starting from December under legislation passed in the Diet on June 5 to address the declining birthrate. 

The revised law to support child care and child rearing was passed and enacted by a majority vote of the ruling parties at an Upper House plenary session.

One of the funding sources for the new policy is called “support money” and will be collected along with medical insurance premiums.

The central government will collect a total of 1 trillion yen ($6.43 billion) in fiscal 2028.

The main pillar of the measure is the substantial expansion of the child allowance by eliminating income restrictions and extending the duration of the allowance from junior high school to senior high school age.

The allowance will be increased to 30,000 yen for the third and subsequent child.

The change will be effective from the October payment and will be delivered to the recipients in December.

As for the increase in the additional amount of allowance for the third and subsequent children, the payment will start in January 2025.

Beginning in April 2025, about 100,000 yen will be paid to expectant and nursing mothers.

For married couples taking child care leave, the benefit amount will increase from 80 percent of take-home pay to 100 percent.

For those working shorter hours to care for children under 2 years of age, 10 percent of their wages will be paid.

Starting from fiscal 2026, a system called “children’s day care for all” will begin, with which children can use day care centers and other facilities regardless of their parents’ employment status and requirements.

The system can be used in all municipalities within a certain number of hours. But the shortage of child care workers and other issues remain.

Moreover, the revised law clearly defines “young caregivers” as eligible for support. Currently, there is no legal definition of legal basis for support for these caregivers. 

The amount of support money will be raised in stages. It will be 600 billion yen in fiscal 2026, 800 billion in fiscal 2027 and 1 trillion yen in fiscal 2028.

On average, a medical insurance enrollee is expected to pay 250 yen per month for the support money in fiscal 2026. That will increase to 350 yen in fiscal 2027 and 450 yen in fiscal 2028.

But medical insurance enrollees include children who do not actually pay premiums.

Therefore, the amount collected will not be the same for all.

In the case of employee insurance for company employees, the monthly amount collected for each person insured, including dependent children, is expected to be 800 yen per month in fiscal 2028.

In the case of national health insurance for self-employed persons and others, the monthly amount collected for each person insured is expected to be 400 yen.

For those aged 75 or older who are in the late-stage medical care system for the elderly, the monthly amount collected for each person insured is expected to be 350 yen.

At the end of 2023, the central government made a Cabinet decision to implement measures against the declining birthrate by the end of fiscal 2028 with an annual budget of 3.6 trillion yen.

Some of these measures that require legal revisions, as well as measures to secure financial resources, are included in the newly enacted law.

The measures come with a large amount of allowances.

Until the government collects support money, it will be supplemented by a type of deficit financing.

The government has also set a goal of “doubling the budget for child rearing” in the 2030s, which will require even more financial resources and result in an increased financial burden. 

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