TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan will expand its child-rearing subsidy program to provide a monthly allowance of NT$2,500 for households with a toddler up to age 4, Premier William Lai announced at a media event to address the island’s low birth rates on May 16.
Presiding over the event, Lai pledged to increase the scale of the country’s child care services as well as child care subsidies, reported CNA.
Under the expanded program, parents paying income tax at rates lower than 20 percent and currently not on unpaid parental leave nor receiving public educational and caring services for their children, are eligible to apply for a monthly payment of NT$2,500 for each of their first two kids aged 0 to 4 and an additional NT$1,000 for the third child.
Apart from that, a monthly child-raising subsidy of NT$5,000 for low-income families and NT$4,000 for lower-middle income families with kids up to age 2 remain. These households will receive an additional NT$2,500 per month for each of their first two kids aged 2 to 4 and an extra NT$1,000 for the third child.
Currently, the child care subsidy is only available for households with toddlers up to age 2 and with an unemployed parent.
According to the Executive Yuan, the new program for children aged 0-2 will be implemented in August this year and is set to benefit 266,000 people, up from 143,000. The incentive for children aged 2-4, on the other hand, will start in August 2019, which will see an estimated 400,000 beneficiaries.