Childcare Leave Pay in Japan (2026): How It Works

Last updated: 6 October 2026 · amounts from 1 August 2026 (令和8年8月1日〜)

On childcare leave in Japan, employment insurance pays the childcare leave benefit (育児休業給付金): 67% of your pay for the first 180 days and 50% after that, up to a cap. It is not taxed and, while you are on leave, no social insurance is charged, so take-home falls by less than pay does. For a mother on ¥300,000 a month the benefit comes to ¥201,000 a month for the first six months, against ¥231,715 of take-home before the leave.

Hello Work decides the benefit, through your employer, and your health insurer decides the childbirth allowance. The figures here are estimates at the amounts from 1 August 2026, on 協会けんぽ health insurance in Tokyo.

The example

A couple in Tokyo, both employees. The mother earns ¥300,000 a month, the father ¥400,000; the baby is due on 10 December 2026. She takes maternity leave and then childcare leave to just before the first birthday. He takes 14 days of postnatal paternity leave (産後パパ育休) straight after the birth.

What the mother receives

Her maternity leave (産前産後休業) runs from 42 days before the birth to 56 days after it. Her health insurer pays the childbirth allowance (出産手当金) for those days: two-thirds of a day’s standard pay, ¥6,667 a day for 98 days, or ¥653,366. The lump-sum allowance for childbirth and childcare (出産育児一時金) of ¥500,000 usually goes straight to the hospital against the bill.

Her childcare leave then starts. Six months of her pay, ¥1,800,000, divided by 180 gives a daily wage of ¥10,000, and each month of leave is paid as 30 days:

Two things are doing the work. The benefit is not taxed, and with no pay there is no health insurance, pension or employment insurance to take off it. What is left is resident tax, which is on last year’s income and carries on. The ¥42,570 a month of social insurance she does not pay still counts towards her pension record.

If both parents take at least 14 days of leave around the birth, each also receives the Post-Birth Leave Support Benefit (出生後休業支援給付金): 13% more for up to 28 days. For her that is ¥36,400, taking those first weeks to 80% of pay — which, with no tax and no insurance, is roughly all of her old take-home.

What the father receives

His daily wage is ¥13,333. Fourteen days of postnatal paternity leave pay the benefit for postnatal paternity leave (出生時育児休業給付金) at 67%: ¥125,063. His 14 days also qualify him for the Post-Birth Leave Support Benefit, ¥24,266, and they are what qualifies her. December is free of his monthly social insurance, because he is on leave for 14 days of it.

His December bonus is another matter. A bonus is free of premiums only when the leave covering the last day of the month lasts more than a month; two weeks do not, so his ¥700,000 bonus still carries ¥99,330 of social insurance.

The caps

The benefit is worked out from pay up to ¥496,200 a month. Above that it stops rising: at most ¥332,454 for a month at 67% and ¥248,100 at 50%. The benefit for postnatal paternity leave is capped at ¥310,290 and the support benefit at ¥60,205. The caps change every 1 August.

The months to plan for

• The first payment is late. Applications are usually made every two months through your employer, so the first money often arrives two or three months into the leave. Maternity leave starts earlier still, and the childbirth allowance is claimed after it ends.
• Resident tax does not stop. When there is no salary to take it from, the bill may come to you directly. It falls a year later, because the benefit is not income for resident tax.
• Day 181. The rate drops from 67% to 50%, and in the example take-home falls from ¥183,125 to ¥132,125. The father’s days of postnatal paternity leave count towards his 180.
• Going back on shorter hours. Until the child turns 2, the Childcare Short-Time Work Benefit (育児時短就業給付金) adds 10% of the reduced pay: back on ¥220,000, she would receive ¥22,000 a month.
• Leaving the job instead. The benefits assume a return to work. If you already plan to leave the job at the start of the leave — to move away from Japan, for example — the childcare leave benefit and the Post-Birth Leave Support Benefit are not paid. Only a decision made after Hello Work has confirmed your eligibility (受給資格確認) keeps the benefit up to the last day of employment without repaying it; a plan to leave that already existed at that point does not (MHLW Q&A, Q50 and Q51). If you decide before eligibility is confirmed, ask Hello Work.

Questions people ask

Is the childcare leave benefit taxed?

No. It is paid by employment insurance and is not taxed, and while you receive no pay there is no social insurance or employment insurance to deduct either.

Do I still pay resident tax on childcare leave?

Yes. Resident tax is on last year’s income, so it goes on during the leave; when your pay stops, you may be sent the bill to pay directly instead of having it taken from the payslip. The benefit itself is not income for resident tax, so the bill a year later is smaller.

When is the first payment?

Applications are normally made every two months through your employer, so the first payment often comes two or three months after the leave starts. Plan to cover those months from savings.

Does the father’s leave affect the mother’s benefit?

It can. For the mother to receive the post-birth leave support benefit, the father generally has to take 14 days or more of leave within 8 weeks of the birth, unless he is not an employee or another listed exception applies.

The childcare leave benefit calculator works this through for your own dates and pay, month by month for both parents. For what resident tax is and why it runs a year behind, see why your first payslips in Japan have no resident tax. For exactly which months and bonuses carry no premium, see when social insurance premiums are waived on childcare leave.

This is a general explanation for employees on 協会けんぽ with no pay during the leave. Company health insurance societies can pay more, and extensions to 18 months or 2 years have rules of their own. Your employer and Hello Work decide every case.

Sources

• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare — 育児休業等給付の内容と支給申請手続（令和8年8月1日改訂版）, 育児時短就業給付の内容と支給申請手続（令和8年8月1日時点版） and 令和8年8月1日から支給限度額が変更になります (the rates, the caps and the qualifying rules)
• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare — Starting April 2025, the “Post-Birth Leave Support Benefit” and “Childcare Short-Time Work Benefit” will begin (English; the names used here)
• Japan Health Insurance Association (協会けんぽ) — 出産手当金, 出産育児一時金, and the English Guidebook for Kyoukai Kenpo (April 2026)
• Japan Pension Service — 厚生年金保険料等の免除（産前産後休業・育児休業等期間） and 育児休業等期間中の社会保険料免除要件が見直されます（令和4年10月から）