Childbirth Support Grant Should Be Paid Even After Application Deadline, Says Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

"If Application Was Missed Due to Insufficient Guidance, Grant Should Be Provided"
Separate Notification Needed for Households Not Meeting Residency Requirement

Even if an applicant misses the deadline for applying for childbirth support payments due to a lack of guidance from a local government, the support payment should be provided if the applicant meets the substantive eligibility requirements, according to a recent determination.

Government Complex Sejong, Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. Photo by Hyunmin Kim

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced on the 19th that it had expressed its opinion to the relevant local government that it should provide the childbirth support payment in response to a grievance that the payment was denied solely because the application deadline had passed.

In December 2023, petitioner A moved to City B and gave birth to a second child in April of the following year. At the time of registering the birth, A received information at the Administrative Welfare Center about various childbirth and childrearing support programs. However, due to the complexity of the information, A was not clearly aware of the exact application deadline for the childbirth support payment.

In February this year, A learned about the missed deadline while making an inquiry at the Administrative Welfare Center. Although A filed a grievance, City B responded, “According to the ordinance, we cannot provide the payment because the application deadline has passed.”

According to City B’s “Ordinance on Childbirth Celebration and Support Payment,” residents who have been registered for less than one year may apply for childbirth support payments once they have resided for more than one year and six months. However, the ordinance stipulates that the application must be submitted within six months after satisfying this requirement.

An investigation by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission confirmed that at the time of the birth registration, multiple support programs were introduced simultaneously, making it difficult to identify the application deadlines for each specific payment. Furthermore, the City B website did not clearly display the application deadlines, and there was no separate notification to eligible applicants when they became eligible to apply.

The Commission expressed its opinion that City B should provide the childbirth support payment, taking into consideration the following: ▲ the applicant met all other eligibility requirements except for the application period and continues to reside in the jurisdiction; ▲ the guidance provided was insufficient; ▲ excluding substantive beneficiaries solely because of a missed application deadline runs counter to the purpose of the childbirth support payment program.

The Commission also emphasized that, in cases where applicants do not meet the residency requirement at the time of application, the local government should implement a system to notify them once they become eligible to apply in the future.

Heo Jae-woo, Director of the Grievance Settlement Bureau at the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, stated, “The childbirth support payment program is designed to address low birth rates and alleviate the burden of childrearing,” adding, “It is important to exercise caution before excluding substantive beneficiaries solely on the grounds that the application deadline has passed.”

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