Working as a childcare worker while raising kids | Childcare fee loans, the short-hours benefit and regional gaps in nursery places
Loans toward childcare fees for childcare workers raising preschoolers, loans toward babysitter costs for early and late shifts, the childcare short-time work benefit (from April 2025), the amended Child Care and Family Care Leave Act, and waitlisted children by prefecture.
Published · Updated
- Qualified childcare workers with preschool children can borrow part of their childcare fees (half of ¥54,000 a month). Repayment is waived after 2 years back at work (conditions apply)
- Childcare workers who use Family Support Centers or babysitters for early or late shifts can also borrow half of those fees
- Working shorter hours while raising a child under 2 can get you the childcare short-time work benefit of 10% of your wages (from April 2025; requires employment insurance)
- 18 of the 47 prefectures had zero waitlisted children (April 2026). Some urban areas are still hard to get into
“I drop off my own child so I can go and care for other people’s children.” It is a juggling act unique to childcare workers. Here are the loans and benefits childcare workers raising children can use, the working arrangements guaranteed by law, and how easy it is to get a nursery place in different parts of Japan.
Don’t miss #1: childcare support loans for childcare workers
The Childcare Worker Training Fund Loan Program (保育士修学資金貸付等事業), run by prefectures and designated cities, has tracks for childcare workers raising children (national standard, per the overview of the FY2026 budget request).
| Track | Who | What the loan covers | Condition for repayment waiver |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support for childcare workers with preschool children returning to nurseries | Qualified childcare workers not in the field who are raising preschool children | Part of the childcare fees (half of ¥54,000 a month), for a 1-year loan period | 2 years of work in practice after re-employment |
| Childminding support for childcare workers with preschool children | Childcare workers who use a Family Support Center (ファミリー・サポート・センター) or babysitters for early-morning or evening shifts | Half of the fees, for a 2-year loan period | 2 years of work in practice |
Both are loans. If you work as required, repayment is waived, but if you don’t meet the conditions you may have to pay it back. Whether they are offered, when applications open, and requirements such as household finances differ by prefecture and designated city, so always check with the office.
Don’t miss #2: “10% of wages” for working shorter hours
The childcare short-time work benefit (育児時短就業給付金), which started on April 1, 2025, is an employment insurance benefit that pays 10% of your wages during reduced hours to people who shorten their scheduled weekly hours to raise a child under 2 (adjusted so the total does not exceed your pay before the reduction).
- It covers not only statutory shorter working hours, but also cases where your scheduled hours drop because you switch to part-time or move to a job with shorter hours.
- You must be enrolled in employment insurance (currently 20+ hours a week, among other conditions). If you drop below 20 hours a week, you are no longer covered. Employment insurance eligibility widens to 10+ hours a week from October 1, 2028.
- How working hours are counted for people on shift schedules was revised on August 1, 2026.
- There are other conditions too, such as your work record in the 2 years before reducing hours. Check the details with Hello Work.
Working arrangements guaranteed by law (amended Child Care and Family Care Leave Act)
| Arrangement | What it means | Effective |
|---|---|---|
| Leave to care for a child (子の看護等休暇) | Now covers children up to the end of 3rd grade. Can also be used for class closures and nursery entrance and graduation ceremonies. 5 days a year (10 with 2 or more children) | Apr 1, 2025 |
| Exemption from overtime | Anyone raising a child below school age can now request it | Apr 1, 2025 |
| Flexible working measures | For parents of children aged 3 to school age, employers must offer at least 2 options such as changing start times, shorter hours or leave for balancing childcare. Workers can choose 1 of them | Oct 1, 2025 |
| Limits on late-night work | People raising a child below school age can request exemption from work between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Not available to, for example, those employed less than 1 year, working 2 days a week or less, or whose scheduled hours are all at night | Already in place |
The limits on late-night work matter at workplaces with night shifts or overnight duty, such as children’s homes and infant homes. An employer can refuse if it would “disrupt the normal running of the business,” so ask on your visit how it works in practice.
How easy it is to get a nursery place varies a lot by region
As of April 1, 2026, there were 2,435 waitlisted children (待機児童) nationwide, up181 from the year before. These are the prefectures with the most.
| Prefecture | Waitlisted | Change | Enrollment rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | 1,113 | +774 | 91.1% |
| Hyogo | 200 | +1 | 93.8% |
| Nara | 147 | -39 | 86.4% |
| Saitama | 140 | -68 | 92.9% |
| Osaka | 133 | -61 | 94.9% |
| Shiga | 102 | -233 | 90.7% |
Source: 保育所等関連状況取りまとめ（令和8年4月1日） — summary of the childcare facility situation as of Apr 1, 2026 (Children and Families Agency, Aug 2026). “Enrollment rate” is enrolled children as a share of capacity (定員充足率)
On the other hand, 18 prefectures had zero waitlisted children (Aomori, Iwate, Akita, Yamagata, Tochigi, Gunma, Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui, Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Tottori, Ehime, Saga, Kumamoto, Oita, Miyazaki). 89.1% of municipalities nationwide had zero, and many areas have spare places. Still, even where the prefecture total is zero, it can be hard to get in depending on age (especially ages 1 and 2) and area.
Figures for every prefecture are in the prefecture data.
What childcare workers with kids may want to ask on a visit
- How often are early, late and Saturday shifts? Can I work fixed hours?
- When a child suddenly gets a fever, how do staff handle days off or leaving early?
- Are there childcare workers on shorter hours or working part-time?
- Is there event preparation or work taken home?
On a one-day trial shift you can see for yourself the flow from morning drop-off to pick-up, and how the teachers who are parents themselves manage their work.
Sources
- 令和８年度 保育関係予算案の概要 — Overview of the FY2026 childcare budget request (Children and Families Agency, Jan 2026)
- 育児時短就業給付の内容と支給申請手続（2026年8月1日時点版） — Childcare short-time work benefit and how to apply (as of Aug 1, 2026) (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Prefectural Labour Bureaus and Hello Work, Aug 2026)
- 育児休業等給付の内容と支給申請手続（2026年8月1日改訂版） — Childcare leave benefits and how to apply (revised Aug 1, 2026) (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Prefectural Labour Bureaus and Hello Work, Aug 2026)
- 育児・介護休業法 改正ポイントのご案内 — Guide to the amended Child Care and Family Care Leave Act (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and Prefectural Labour Bureaus, no publication date given (checked Sept 2026))
- 雇用保険法（令和6年法律第26号による改正、2028年10月1日施行分） — Employment Insurance Act (as amended by Act No. 26 of 2024, provisions effective Oct 1, 2028) (e-Gov Laws (Digital Agency), checked Sept 2026)
- 保育所等関連状況取りまとめ（令和8年4月1日） — Summary of the childcare facility situation (as of Apr 1, 2026) (Children and Families Agency, Aug 2026)
Figures and programs are summarized from the materials above as of September 2026. Programs can be revised, and conditions differ by municipality and employer. Check the latest information with the relevant office before you use any of them.