The government received Cabinet approval Wednesday for a special measures bill to make monthly child-rearing allowance payments of 10,000 yen per child aged 3 to 12 and of middle school-age, starting in October.
With the Cabinet approval, the government submitted the bill to the Diet, which will become a base law to provide the child-rearing allowance between October and March.
The bill is most likely to pass the current Diet session with support of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, and the opposition Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito.
Under the current law on the child-rearing allowance, households receive 13,000 yen per month per child of middle school-age and under. However, if the special measures bill is enacted, households will receive 15,000 yen per child younger than 3 years old and the same amount for third and subsequent children from 3 to 12 years old. Households will receive 10,000 yen per month for first and second children aged 3 to 12 and those in middle school.
Though the current law on the child-rearing allowance will expire at the end of September, the DPJ, LDP and Komeito have already agreed to continue payments of the child-rearing allowance until the end of this fiscal year based on the enactment of the special measures bill.
They also agreed to revise the child benefit law and introduce a new allowance system with an income cap from April next year. The transfer to the new system in the next fiscal year is stipulated in the bill.
The bill also includes provisions to review what are considered flaws in the current system, such as the conditions for qualifying as a recipient.
For instance, the child-rearing allowance will be made eligible for 11,000 children at child care institutions for being orphaned and for other reasons. Also, children living with custodial guardians or caregivers appointed by their parents abroad, such as grandparents, will be eligible for the child-rearing allowance under the envisaged special measures law.
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