Childcare Leave Benefit Pays 67% of Wages: The 13% Top-Up and 10% Shorter-Hours Benefit Added in 2025

An employee in Japan can notify their employer and take childcare leave until their child turns one year old. Income during the leave is supported by employment insurance’s “childcare leave benefit” (ikuji kyugyo kyufu): for the first 180 days of leave, 67% of pre-leave wages is paid. In April 2025, two new benefits began: a top-up of 13% when both parents take leave together, and a benefit to make up for the drop in wages when working shorter hours.

Below is based on the text of the Act on Childcare Leave, Caregiver Leave, and Other Measures for the Welfare of Workers Caring for Children or Other Family Members (the Child Care and Family Care Leave Act) and the Employment Insurance Act (e-Gov Japanese Law Search), and on the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s leaflet “Content of and Application Procedures for Childcare Leave and Other Benefits” (revised August 1, 2026), as confirmed in September 2026. Whether you can take leave, whether you can receive the benefit, and how much you can receive are decided case by case by your workplace and the public employment security office (Hello Work); this article does not make that judgment.

How Long You Can Take Leave: In Principle Until Age One, Extendable to Age Two

Article 5, paragraph 1 of the Child Care and Family Care Leave Act provides that a worker “may take childcare leave for a child under the age of one whom the worker is raising, by giving notice to the business operator.” A company cannot, in principle, refuse this request (Article 6, paragraph 1). Workers employed on a day-to-day basis are excluded from “childcare leave” under this Act (Article 2, item 1).

• Taking it in two parts: leave before the child turns one can be split into two separate periods (Article 5, paragraph 2)
• Extension: in cases set out by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare ordinance, such as being unable to get into a nursery, leave can be extended to age 1 year 6 months, and further to age two (Article 5, paragraphs 3 and 4)
• When both parents take leave: according to the ministry’s leaflet, using the so-called “Papa-Mama Childcare Leave Plus” scheme lets leave be taken until the child turns 1 year 2 months (the total period any one parent can take remains capped at one year)
• Timing of notice: if the planned start date of leave falls less than one month after the day following the notice, the company may designate the start date (Article 6, paragraph 3)

The procedure for extending the benefit period on the grounds of being unable to get a child into a nursery changed from April 2025. According to the ministry, to make clear that it is Hello Work that judges whether an extension is possible, the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Employment Insurance Act was amended so that an application for an extension must now be accompanied by a copy of the application submitted to the city, town, or ward for a nursery place, along with a “Report Certifying the Grounds for Extending the Eligible Period for the Childcare Leave Benefit.” Applying for a nursery place itself is covered in our article on applying for nursery school.

Postnatal Paternity Leave (Childcare Leave at Birth)

Since October 2022, separately from childcare leave, a new leave has existed allowing up to four weeks off within eight weeks of a child’s birth: “childcare leave at birth” (shusseiji ikuji kyugyo). The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare calls this “postnatal paternity leave” (sango papa ikukyu). It can also be split into two parts (Child Care and Family Care Leave Act, Article 9-2). The company can only designate the start date when the planned start date falls less than two weeks after the notice (Article 9-3, paragraph 3; this can be extended to within one month by a labor-management agreement).

Under Article 65, paragraph 2 of the Labor Standards Act, a company must not, in principle, have someone work within eight weeks after childbirth (postnatal leave), so childcare leave at birth is mainly used by the parent who did not give birth. The benefit for this period is the “childcare leave at birth benefit” (shusseiji ikuji kyugyo kyufukin), paid at 67% of wages for the days taken (up to 28 days) (Employment Insurance Act, Article 61-8).

People Employed for a Fixed Term

The conditions for people employed for a fixed term, such as contract employees or part-time workers, changed in April 2022.

Old Conditions and New Conditions: The “One Year or More” Requirement Is Gone

Period	Conditions under which a fixed-term employee could request childcare leave
Through March 2022	A person meeting both of the following: (1) continuously employed by that business operator for one year or more; (2) it is not clear that their labor contract (or, if renewed, the renewed contract) will expire by the day the child turns 1 year 6 months old
From April 2022	A person for whom it is not clear that their labor contract (or, if renewed, the renewed contract) will expire by the day the child turns 1 year 6 months old (Article 5, paragraph 1, proviso)

However, a written agreement between the company and a labor union representing a majority of workers (a labor-management agreement) can still exclude “workers who have been continuously employed for less than one year” from childcare leave (Article 6, paragraph 1, item 1). This applies regardless of whether the employment is for a fixed term. Check your own rules of employment or your company’s person in charge to see whether such an agreement exists at your workplace.

Conditions for Receiving the Benefit, and 67% vs. 50%

The childcare leave benefit is paid by Hello Work to an employment insurance policyholder who takes childcare leave. According to Article 61-7 of the Employment Insurance Act and the ministry’s leaflet, the main conditions are as follows.

• In the two years before the leave began, there must be 12 or more months in which there were 11 or more days on which wages were paid (or, failing that, 80 or more hours worked). If there was a period of 30 or more consecutive days during which wages could not be received, for reasons such as illness, the two years can be extended by that much (up to a maximum of four years)
• The number of days worked during the leave must be 10 or fewer per one-month benefit period (or, if more than 10 days, 80 hours or fewer)
• For fixed-term employees, it must not be clear that their labor contract will expire by the day the child turns 1 year 6 months old

The amount is based on a “daily wage amount at the start of leave” calculated from wages in the six months before the leave began. It is 67% for a total of up to 180 days from the start of leave, and 50% from day 181 (Article 61-7, paragraph 6). There are upper and lower limits on the amount, reviewed every August 1.

	Amount from August 1, 2026 to July 31, 2027
Upper/lower limit on the daily wage amount at the start of leave	Upper limit 16,540 yen; lower limit 3,203 yen
Upper limit for 30 days of benefit (67%)	332,454 yen
Upper limit for 30 days of benefit (50%)	248,100 yen

The same leaflet explains that, because health insurance and Employees’ Pension Insurance premiums are waived on request during childcare leave, and because the benefit is not taxed, when the benefit rate is 80% (the 67% plus the 13% top-up explained below), it works out to “roughly the equivalent of 100% of take-home pay.” However, for people whose wages exceed the upper limit above, the proportion falls accordingly.

Two Benefits That Began in April 2025

Under the 2024 Act for Partial Amendment of the Child and Childcare Support Act and Other Acts (Act No. 47 of Reiwa 6), the Employment Insurance Act was amended, and the following two benefits were added from April 1, 2025. According to the ministry, the funding comes from the child and childcare support levy.

Benefit	Who qualifies	Amount	Employment Insurance Act
Post-birth leave support benefit	When, within a set period after the child’s birth, the person themselves takes 14 days or more of childcare leave in total (including childcare leave at birth), and their spouse also takes 14 days or more in total	13% of the daily wage amount at the start of leave × days of leave (up to 28 days)	Article 61-10
Childcare shorter-hours work benefit	When working shorter than the prescribed weekly working hours in order to raise a child under age two	10% of the wages paid during the shorter-hours period (the rate falls if wages exceed 90% of pre-shorter-hours wages)	Article 61-12

Exceptions to the Post-Birth Leave Support Benefit’s “Spouse Also Takes 14 Days” Requirement

There are set cases where the benefit does not require the spouse to have taken leave, even if they have not. The ministry’s leaflet lists cases such as: having no spouse; the spouse having no legal parent-child relationship with the child; living apart from the spouse due to domestic violence; the spouse not working; the spouse being self-employed, a freelancer, or otherwise not an employee; and the spouse being on postnatal leave. For example, if the mother is on postnatal leave and the father takes 14 days or more of leave in total within the qualifying period, the father can be eligible for the benefit. The period over which the 13% top-up can be received is limited to 28 days of the person’s own leave. As of the amount in effect through July 31, 2027, the maximum payment is 60,205 yen for 28 days.

The Upper Limit for the Childcare Shorter-Hours Work Benefit

If wages paid during shorter hours are at or above a set amount (the payment ceiling, which is 484,121 yen through July 31, 2027), no benefit is paid for that month, and no benefit is paid for a month in which the calculated benefit amount is 2,562 yen or less (per the ministry’s leaflet). A month in which wages did not fall as a result of working shorter hours is also excluded.

From October 2025: Working Arrangements From Age Three Until Entering Elementary School

Under a 2024 amendment to the Child Care and Family Care Leave Act (Act No. 42 of Reiwa 6), from October 1, 2025, companies must make available at least two of the following five measures for employees raising a child from age three until they enter elementary school (Article 23-3, paragraph 1). Employees may choose and use one of whichever measures are made available.

• Changing start times and similar
• Working from home and similar
• Shortening prescribed working hours for childcare
• Leave designed to make it easier to raise a child while working (separate from the existing leave for a child’s illness/injury care, and from annual paid leave)
• Other measures set by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare ordinance

Companies must, during a set period before the child turns three, inform the employee of the measures made available and confirm, such as through an interview, which one the employee wishes to use (Article 23-3, paragraph 5). Which measures are made available differs from company to company.

Nationality, Status of Residence, and Other Systems

Neither the definition of “worker” in the Child Care and Family Care Leave Act nor the provisions on childcare leave benefits in the Employment Insurance Act make nationality a condition. Enrollment in employment insurance does not depend on nationality; the conditions for enrollment (working 20 hours or more a week, being expected to be employed for 31 days or more, and so on) are summarized in our article on the basic unemployment benefit under employment insurance. However, this article cannot judge the treatment of someone whose scope of permitted work is limited by their status of residence, or someone whose period of stay is close to expiring. Check with Hello Work.

Costs at the time of childbirth, and the childbirth allowance paid from your workplace health insurance, are covered in our article on childbirth in Japan; the child allowance paid after a child is born is in our article on the child allowance.

Order of Procedures, and Where to Ask

• 1. Notice of leave: decide the start and end dates of leave and notify your company (as a guide, one month before the planned start for childcare leave, and two weeks before for postnatal paternity leave)
• 2. Applying for the benefit: in principle, applied for through your company to the Hello Work with jurisdiction over your workplace’s location. According to the leaflet, if going through the company is difficult, or if the person prefers, the person themselves can also submit the application
• 3. During leave: applications for the childcare leave benefit are, in principle, made once every two months (or once a month, if the person prefers)

For questions about the content of the benefits or the procedures, there is the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s Childcare Leave and Other Benefits Call Center (0570-200-406, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. (8:30-17:15)). For consultations about the right to take leave itself, such as not being allowed to take childcare leave or being treated unfavorably because of taking leave, the Prefectural Labour Bureau counters listed by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare take such consultations. Check before calling whether an interpreter can be arranged.