The General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council today (28th) issued the “Implementation Plan for the Childcare Subsidy System”. Childcare subsidies are cash subsidies issued to the public across the country, which is of pioneering significance.
Overall requirements
The “Implementation Plan” clarifies the overall requirements and four aspects of work requirements:
We must adhere to improving people’s livelihood, benefiting the people, and effectively reducing the cost of family childbirth and raising children;
We must adhere to overall coordination and guarantee fairness, connect with the current livelihood policies, and ensure that eligible infants and young children enjoy subsidies equally;
We must do our best and act within our means, comprehensively consider the population development situation and the level of economic and social development, reasonably determine the scope and standards of subsidies, ensure that the finances are affordable and the policies are sustainable;
We must adhere to safety and standardization, simplicity and ease of implementation, strictly review qualifications, standardize the issuance process, improve work efficiency, ensure the safety of funds, and do a good job.
Subsidy recipients and standards
The Implementation Plan clarifies the subsidy recipients and standards. From January 1, 2025, the childcare subsidy system will provide subsidies to infants under 3 years old who are born in accordance with laws and regulations. The childcare subsidy will be paid annually. At present, the national basic standard is 3,600 yuan per child per year, and the subsidy will be paid until the infant reaches 3 years old.
Among them, for infants born before January 1, 2025 and under 3 years old, the subsidy will be calculated according to the number of months to be subsidized. Childcare subsidies issued in accordance with the provisions of the childcare subsidy system are exempt from personal income tax. When identifying the recipients of minimum living security, special hardship persons and other assistance recipients, childcare subsidies are not included in family or personal income.
Application procedures and payment channels
In the application procedure, the childcare subsidy is applied for by one of the parents or other guardians of the infant in accordance with regulations at the place of household registration of the infant. It is mainly applied online through the childcare subsidy information management system, and can also be applied offline.
The channels for distributing childcare subsidies are the bank cards or other financial accounts of the applicants or infants. It is encouraged to distribute them through the “one-card” for the financial subsidies for benefiting the people and farmers or the social security cards of infants. Each province shall determine the specific time of disbursement based on actual conditions, improve the efficiency of disbursement, and ensure that the subsidies are distributed in a timely and full manner.
The “Implementation Plan” clarifies the information management requirements for childcare subsidies and the full supervision of the implementation of the childcare subsidy system. The “Implementation Plan” requires strengthening organizational leadership, and local governments shall formulate implementation plans and submit them to the National Health Commission and the Ministry of Finance for filing, make good policy connections, and enhance the implementation effect.
