Seoul City to Support Small Business Owners with Up to 600,000 KRW Monthly for Childcare Services

Business Owners and Workers with Workplaces in Seoul
Support of 10,000 KRW per Hour for 1,000 Households Raising Children Aged 3 Months to 12 Years, Out of 15,000 KRW

#. A self-employed couple, Mr. and Mrs. A, raising a 24-month-old son and a 60-day-old daughter. They leave for work at 9 a.m. and return at 10 p.m., so they need a sitter to watch the children for long hours, but the cost is not easy to bear, so the mother takes care of the children at home. However, recently their worries have increased. Two of the three employees working at the store have to quit, so the mother has no choice but to go to the store as well.

On the 18th, Seoul City announced that it will support the cost of the 'Childcare Service,' which provides customized care even at night and on holidays, to fill the childcare gap that may occur due to the nature of small business owners' work.

This project is part of Seoul City's low birthrate countermeasure 'Birth Support Seoul Project' and is promoted with a 5 billion KRW donation from KB Financial Group. The three-part set of support for small business owners includes ▲support for substitute workers during parental leave ▲childcare service support ▲support for business suspension to prevent business losses due to pregnancy and childbirth, targeting small business owners who have been left out of existing childbirth and childcare support policies.

First, when small business owners raising children use childcare services from private service agencies, Seoul City supports 10,000 KRW per hour of the childcare fee (15,000 KRW), excluding the self-pay portion of 5,000 KRW. They can receive up to 600,000 KRW per child per month for six months, totaling 3.6 million KRW. For two children, the maximum is 900,000 KRW per month and 5.4 million KRW over six months. However, night and holiday usage fees follow the service provider's operating regulations, and if the hourly basic fee exceeds 15,000 KRW, the user must bear the entire excess cost.

The program is significant in that not only business owners but also employees can benefit. Eligible users are small business owners and workers with workplaces located in Seoul who are raising children aged 3 months to under 12 years old, with support available for up to two children per household.

Eligibility requires that the business owner or worker (father or mother) and the child share the same address on the resident registration. Business owners must have been operating for more than one year as of the application date (opened before September 1, 2023), and workers must be regular employees employed by small business enterprises. Users of the 'Seoul-type Childcare Service' cannot receive duplicate support, and industries restricted from loan support, such as entertainment establishments, are excluded from support.

Available services include accompanying children to and from daycare or school, preparing meals and snacks, putting children to sleep and waking them up, hygiene management, cleaning up after care, and indoor play as basic childcare services. Additional services provided by individual service agencies can be used at the user's expense, and some services included in the basic package are provided free of charge.

Applications will be accepted starting at 9 a.m. on the 23rd. A total of 1,000 households will be selected through this application. Seoul City has been conducting a public contest since the 2nd of this month to select private childcare service providers and will announce the selected agencies on the 27th. Including preliminary selections, 1,300 households will be chosen, and after document submission and eligibility verification, the final 1,000 households will be selected considering the children's ages and number of children. The selected 1,300 households will choose their preferred childcare service provider and must submit a separate small business owner confirmation.

Kim Seon-soon, Director of the Seoul City Women and Family Office, said, "Although small business owners are the lifeblood of our economy, they have been left out of childbirth and childcare support policies. Through this support, we will accelerate efforts to make Seoul a city where having and raising children is easier," adding, "We will also carry out the remaining projects of the small business owner customized childbirth and childcare support three-part set without delay to accompany 1.53 million small business owners."