Early childhood education and childcare started free of charge Increased tax rate on October 1 at 5:49
Beginning this month, childcare education and childcare have started free of charge, using the increased revenue from the increase in the consumption tax rate.
The tax revenue increased by the consumption tax rate increase will be used to enhance social security. Of this amount, over 380 billion yen will be allocated this year to the early childhood education and childcare free of charge.
The fee will be free of charge for kindergartens and authorized nurseries, etc. Regardless of the income of the household from 3 to 5 years old, it will be free only for non-residential tax-free households from 0 to 2 years old. .
In addition, some private kindergartens are subsidized up to 25,700 yen per month, and non-authorized childcare facilities are subsidized up to a maximum of 37,000 yen per month if the need for childcare is recognized.
However, in order to ensure the quality of childcare for non-authorized childcare facilities, the free-of-charge is limited to five years and encourages the transition to approved childcare facilities.
While there are welcome voices regarding early childhood education and childcare free of charge, there are also concerns that the burden on standby children and facilities will increase due to growing needs, and will respond to needs while ensuring the quality of childcare in the future. The challenge is how to proceed.