Chungnam, Special Support for Childcare Services... Up to 40% Reduction in Personal Burden

Provided by Chungnam Province

[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Chungnam Province announced on the 24th that it will implement special support to reduce the economic burden on families using the childcare service.

The childcare service is a government-subsidized program that supports part of the usage fee based on income criteria when a childcare gap occurs due to reasons such as both parents working.

The special support is based on lowering the existing self-payment rate, which ranged from 15% to 100% depending on household income, to 10% to 60%.

For example, for the highest income level group, ‘Type Ra (150% or more of median income)’, the cost burden is reduced by 40%, from 10,550 KRW per hour to 6,330 KRW.

The support target is families with children under 12 years old who experience a childcare gap and wish to use the childcare service according to the childcare support criteria. The usage time is limited to care services provided between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays for additional support.

However, usage is restricted if parents can directly care for their children due to both parents working, taking leave, etc. Service use is possible after childcare gap and income assessment.

The special support period will be flexibly maintained from this month depending on the COVID-19 situation and budget conditions.

Applications for the childcare service can be made online through ‘Bokjiro’ or by visiting the administrative welfare center of the local eup, myeon, or dong. Online applications are only available for dual-income couples (both father and mother enrolled in workplace health insurance) and single-parent households (workplace insurance subscribers).

A provincial official said, “We hope that the special support for childcare services will help dual-income families struggling with childcare due to COVID-19,” and added, “The province will continue to actively implement related policies to support parents in balancing work and family.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.