The 'Advance Child Support Payment System' Requires 90 Billion Won... But Its Implementation Possibility Is 'Uncertain'

National Assembly Budget Office Estimates 400 Billion Won Over 5 Years
Government Ministries Also Concerned About Budget Scale
Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Deliberates on Recovery Rate and Support Methods

As the government’s 'Advance Child Support Payment System,' which involves prepaying child support and later recovering the payments, emerges as a political pledge for the general election, concerns are being raised about its actual feasibility. This is because it is predicted to require a massive budget of up to 90 billion KRW annually.

On the 21st, a review of the cost estimate for the "Special Act on Advance Child Support Payment," which was introduced as a representative bill by Jang Kyung-tae of the Democratic Party of Korea in March last year through the National Assembly Legislative Information System, showed that the National Assembly Budget Office expected a total expenditure of 383.26 billion KRW over the next five years (2024?2028). The annual average was estimated to require 76.641 billion KRW.

This estimate was based on the assumption that the current system’s support amount of 200,000 KRW per month under the "Temporary Emergency Child Support" would remain unchanged, and was calculated by multiplying the number of advance child support cases by the unit support cost per case. The number of advance child support cases was estimated by applying the average proportion of single-parent households with minors over the past five years to the future household projections from Statistics Korea.

Previously, President Yoon Seok-yeol promised the introduction of the advance payment system as a campaign pledge during the presidential election, and recently the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced it would consider implementing it within this year. Subsequently, on the 20th, the Democratic Party also pledged to introduce a national advance child support payment system.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In 2021, the National Assembly Budget Office also predicted in its "Understanding and Cases of Bill Cost Estimates" that a total of 460.293 billion KRW, averaging 92.059 billion KRW annually, would be required from 2023 to 2027. This estimate assumed that the current emergency support system would be discontinued, which aligns more closely with the basic intent of the advance payment system. A Budget Office official explained, "We roughly estimated the scale by reflecting current figures such as the number of single-parent households," adding, "If the child support payment unit increases from now, the total amount will be much larger."

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the main agency responsible for child support, also stated that securing a budget is necessary for the successful implementation of the system. However, the advance payment system itself, as discussed in political circles, seems difficult to realize as the government is currently maintaining a fiscal tightening policy. Even in this year’s budget formulation, the total expenditure growth rate was 2.8%, the lowest in 19 years since fiscal statistics were reorganized in 2005.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance, the main budget authority, also pointed out that the advance payment system is unrealistic. A ministry official said, "Our fiscal projects are mainly targeted at people in difficulty based on 75% of the median income," adding, "The annual expenditure for this is about 1.6 billion KRW." He continued, "Within limited resources, it is appropriate to prioritize those in need," and added, "The government cannot pay all child support on behalf of everyone."

National Assembly Budget Office, Understanding and Cases of Bill Cost Estimation Ⅱ, 2021. [Source: National Assembly Budget Office]

Heo Min-sook, a legislative researcher at the National Assembly Legislative Research Office, also said, "It is necessary to consider realistic measures such as maintaining the current temporary emergency support amount of 200,000 KRW and having the state cover the difference," emphasizing, "The important thing is to establish a strong policy stance that the state will rigorously collect unpaid child support."

However, since the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has stated it will review the plan after preparing measures to improve the recovery rate, detailed discussions on the application method are expected. A ministry official said, "While differentiating from the current payment system, the core is 'collection' that enforces child-rearing responsibility on the non-custodial parent," adding, "We are reviewing specific aspects such as whether to proceed with the basic concept of advance payment or to expand the current temporary support."

Meanwhile, at 1:30 p.m. on the same day, the National Assembly’s Gender Equality and Family Committee plans to hold a bill review subcommittee meeting to focus on discussing the proposed "Partial Amendment to the Act on Securing and Supporting Child Support Enforcement." If this subcommittee meeting takes place, it will be the first in nine months since June last year.