Subsidy payment to parents who take time off from work due to child closure is 30% of the budget

One year has passed since the request for simultaneous closure of schools nationwide, and the subsidy for parents who had to take time off from work due to child closure or closure was 30% of the secured budget. However, parents have said that they cannot use the subsidy.

Experts point out that "it may not reach the people who need it, and we need to improve the system and provide alternatives."

In response to a request to close all schools a year ago, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has created a "subsidy for elementary school leave, etc." for parents who had to take time off from work due to the new coronavirus. ..

In addition to the annual paid leave under the Labor Standards Law, a subsidy of up to 8330 yen per person per day until March last year and up to 15,000 yen after April will be provided to companies that have taken paid leave. By doing so, we support parents.

The application was made by a company, and from the end of February last year, when the school was closed in Hokkaido, which was the earliest in Japan, to the 19th of this month, 137,830 cases and 44,650 million yen were decided to be paid.

Combined with the similar amount of support of 5.3 billion yen for freelancers, it is 29% of the secured budget of 171.9 billion yen.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said that the budget was set up with a margin based on statistics such as single-parent households and double-income households, but it was pointed out that the system was insufficiently known and companies were refraining from applying, so in November last year nationwide We have set up a "special consultation desk" at the Labor Bureau to respond.

However, even after that, parents said that the company would not apply, and members of the Diet of the ruling and opposition parties pointed out that the budget execution rate was low and that remedies were necessary. I will.

Kana Takeda, a senior consultant at Nomura Research Institute, who is familiar with the national system associated with the spread of infection, said, "Because of the increasing number of double-income workers in the child-rearing generation, it seems that the number of target people is a little higher, and there is a possibility that the application has not been completed sufficiently. In addition to promoting the use of the system and improving the system, it is necessary to consider a wide range of alternative support measures for those who are still in need. "

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare says that it will directly encourage companies to apply according to the content of consultations with the counters established nationwide, and will continue to call for the utilization of the system through economic organizations.

Parents "The reality is that subsidies cannot be used"

One year has passed since the request for a simultaneous closure due to the new coronavirus, and parents who had to take a break from work due to a child's closure are unable to utilize the national subsidy to compensate their wages on the 28th. He held a press conference in Sapporo and complained that the system needed to be reviewed.

In addition to Hokkaido, 14 people including elementary school students from Kanto and mothers who have jobs in the group "Child-rearing emergency action" of parents of kindergarten children participated in the press conference.

At the press conference, the voices of three mothers said that the company did not apply for a national subsidy to compensate for the wages of parents who had to take time off from school due to the new coronavirus, and that compensation could not be received. Was introduced.

Of these, mothers raising children in Sapporo City were told by the company they work for that "there is an unfair feeling between those who are absent from work due to school closure and those who are commuting to work," and the company is subsidized. It means that I made only a part of the application.

The group argued that the system needed to be reviewed so that individuals could apply for the grant.

Konatsu Tanaka, who raises two children in Sapporo, said, "Subsidies that do not reach those who are raising children are meaningless. I want society as a whole to know the difficulty of the child-rearing generation."

On March 1, the group will submit a request to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to request individuals to apply for subsidies, and will continue to work while gathering voices from all over the country on Twitter.

Parents who raised their voices "I want the voice to reach politics and administration somehow."

Konatsu Tanaka (28) from Sapporo City, one of the people who raised his voice this time, did not apply for a subsidy from the company.

Mr. Tanaka, who lives with a self-employed husband, a 7-year-old eldest son, and a 3-year-old eldest daughter, worked as a part-time worker at an apparel store, but the eldest son could not attend elementary school due to the simultaneous closure, and after-school care was closed, so last year's 3 The month could only work for a few days.

Until then, he worked five days a week at most and earned about 80,000 yen a month, but he says his income has dropped to the 20,000 yen level.

He applied to the company for paid leave by utilizing the subsidy for school closure, but he said that he could not apply because it was unfair while some people were working.

After negotiating for several months, Mr. Tanaka quit his job, which he had been doing for more than five years.

After that, I found a cleaning job about three days a week, and my income has been reduced to less than half, about 30,000 yen a month.

When I posted the current situation on SNS, I learned that there are parents all over the country who could not apply for subsidies to the company in the same way, and I asked them to make the system easier to use by signing for the first time. I did.

It is said that he has been busy with childcare and work and has little interest in politics, but now that he is watching the Diet broadcast, he feels the need to convey the voice of each person.

Mr. Tanaka said, "It's been a year since the school was closed all at once, but I feel that the difficulty of using the system hasn't changed. I think it's only possible for many people to know before the time limit for applying for a grant comes. I think that there are some families who have overcome their work without taking a break, but the individuality of each child and the difficulty of each family are different, so I want to make it a time for society as a whole to think about childcare. What I can do while I have childcare and work Although it is limited, I want the politics and administration to reach out to me somehow. "

To carry out "demo" to convey on SNS

The group of parents who met is planning to hold a demonstration on SNS on March 1st, which means that video messages are gathering from all over the country.

Some parents were unable to apply for a subsidy from the company, and a woman in her thirties who had to take a break from work due to the closure of her son's elementary school student said, "I can't use the subsidy that I should be able to use. Now is the time to make a country where it is easy to give birth and raise children. "

The father, who was closed immediately after his daughter entered elementary school, complained, "It is not your responsibility to take a break from your parents. Please pay early." In addition, the corona sickness made child-rearing difficult. A woman from Okinawa who felt that she was there and agreed with the activity called out, "Because it is a difficult time, let's connect together."

Each video will be posted all at once at 7:00 pm on March 1st with the hashtag "Parenting Emergency Declaration" in about 15 seconds.