Welfare System Changes in 2025... A Warmer New Year with Uijeongbu-Style Welfare
Standard Median Income for a 4-Person Household Increased by 6.42% to 6,097,773 KRW
Senior Job Program Participants Increased by 11.3% to a Total of 5,000
Uijeongbu City, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Kim Dong-geun) will further strengthen its welfare system to realize the Uijeongbu-style welfare of mutual care, ‘Care for All,’ by 2025.
According to Uijeongbu City on the 8th, the city has allocated a social welfare budget of 787 billion won for 2025, which accounts for 61% of the total general accounting budget. Through this, the city plans to expand support targets for socially vulnerable groups such as basic livelihood security and basic pensions, and build a more comprehensive welfare safety net. Let’s take a look at the changes in Uijeongbu City’s welfare system this year.
◇ Strengthening Protection for Vulnerable Groups: Increase in Median Income Standard, Relaxation of Livelihood Benefit Eligibility Criteria
The 2025 median income standard for a four-person household is set at 6,097,773 won, a 6.42% increase from 5,729,913 won the previous year, marking the highest increase rate since the transition to a customized benefit system in 2015.
Inauguration Ceremony of the Search Team to Discover Blind Spots in Welfare. Provided by Uijeongbu City
Additionally, to expand eligibility, the livelihood benefit system will be actively improved. Specifically, ▲the automobile asset standard applying a general property conversion rate (4.17%) has been relaxed to under 2,000cc and 5 million won ▲the support obligor income standard is set at an annual income of 130 million won ▲general property limit has been raised to over 1.2 billion won. Work and business income deductions apply a 30% deduction for general recipients, and an additional ‘200,000 won + 30%’ deduction is applied for seniors aged 65 and over.
Furthermore, ▲emergency heating cost support for safety-vulnerable groups ▲new self-support success grants for those who have exited benefits due to private employment among participants in self-support work ▲and expansion of the Didim Seed Bank account subscription targets from children on basic livelihood security and protection to include children from near-poverty and single-parent families to support vulnerable children’s initial costs upon social entry will be actively supported.
◇ Elderly Welfare: 7% Increase in Basic Pension Eligibility Threshold, Expansion of Senior Jobs to 5,000 People
From 2025, single-person households aged 65 and over with a monthly income of 2.28 million won or less, and couple households with 3.648 million won or less, will be eligible for the basic pension. With a 7% increase in the eligibility threshold compared to last year, more seniors will be able to benefit from the basic pension.
The senior job project will increase participation by 11.3%, providing jobs to a total of 5,000 seniors. The budget will be 20.8 billion won, a 15% increase from the previous year. To improve work efficiency through administrative task integration, activate networks with executing agencies, and establish a control tower, the Senior Job Integrated Support Center will be established.
Support for senior centers will also be strengthened. A business agreement was signed with the Korea Senior Citizens Association ICT Business Group to build a two-way communication platform in all senior centers in the city and operate various non-face-to-face leisure programs. Additionally, the rice support for senior centers, previously provided as government rice (Narammi), will be replaced with Gyeonggi rice (Yangjugol rice), and the warm meal support staff will be increased to a total of 320 people, with rice support expanded up to 12 bags (20kg each).
Moreover, a designation renewal system will be introduced for a total of 166 long-term care institutions that have reached six years as of the designated date, to provide safe long-term care services to long-term care benefit users and their families.
◇ Infants and Children: 24-Hour Seamless Extended Care Operation
Starting March this year, the city plans to newly designate and operate ‘Anytime Daycare Centers,’ where children can be safely entrusted 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in case of temporary and urgent situations. ‘Anytime Daycare Centers’ are available for children aged 6 months to 5 years (pre-school infants) residing in Gyeonggi Province and can be applied for when temporary or urgent childcare is needed. They will also support childcare during early morning, weekends, and holidays, contributing to eliminating childcare blind spots.
For school-age children (6?12 years), facility-type emergency care hours will be expanded to build an emergency care network from 7 a.m. to midnight on weekdays nights and weekends/holidays.
In addition, to alleviate childcare burdens and strengthen care services, government support for the use fees of the childcare service will be expanded from households with income below 150% of the median income standard to those below 200%.
A childbirth encouragement grant for first-born children will also be newly introduced. While maintaining the existing 1 million won childbirth encouragement grant for families with second or later children, the target has been expanded to provide 300,000 won to families with first-born children born after January 1 this year.
◇ Welfare for the Disabled: 2.3% Increase in Disability Pension, Expansion of Activity Support Services for Severely Disabled
The disability pension reflects last year’s inflation rate (2.3%), increasing the monthly maximum payment by 7,700 won to 432,510 won.
Additionally, a family allowance system will be implemented for severely disabled individuals, such as those with developmental disabilities and rare incurable diseases, who have difficulty receiving care due to the lack of an activity support worker.
The city provides its own family allowance service not only for developmental disabilities but also for other severely disabled activity support recipients who are not linked with activity support workers, and plans to actively discover more eligible individuals this year, expanding from 4 to 17 people.
◇ Resolving Welfare Blind Spots through Uijeongbu-style Welfare ‘Care for All’
The city will expand ‘Care for All,’ which overcomes the limitations of institutional social welfare services through close cooperation between public and private sectors and citizen participation.
Signing of a Business Agreement by the Korea Senior Citizens Association ICT Project Group. Provided by Uijeongbu City
Centered on the Uijeongbu Social Welfare Center, organic linkage and cooperation among social welfare facilities and organizations will be strengthened to expand the welfare management system (governance) that designs citizens’ lives.
In line with the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s pilot project to prevent and manage solitary deaths, the city will strengthen the system from identifying high-risk individuals to prevention and management through public-private cooperation. In particular, through ▲Honorary Social Welfare Officers Happy Bridge ▲Middle-aged Solitary Death Prevention ‘Search Squad’ ▲Expansion of SOS Emergency Gap Support, the city plans to more thoroughly identify welfare blind spots and build a welfare safety net where everyone cares for each other in Uijeongbu.
Mayor Kim Dong-geun said, “In 2025, we will continue to care for vulnerable groups and build a comprehensive welfare safety net that all citizens can feel to realize ‘Care for All.’ We will continue to create a city that provides a better life through the Uijeongbu-style welfare model.”
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