Research project for smooth operation of and improvement of childcare quality in corporate -led childcare（Joint research with Life Care Partners Co.,Ltd.）

Under the direction of the Cabinet Office, the “Corporate-led Childcare Program” was launched in 2016. This program was launched to provide diverse and flexible childcare services in accordance with working styles and to support the balance between “working” and “child rearing” within parents. As of March 31, 2021, the decision to subsidize corporate-led childcare was made for 4,223 facilities with a capacity of 101,028 children, and many children are now attending corporate-led childcare facilities.

However, while there are positive opinions regarding the program, such as that it allows employee to return to work in the middle of a fiscal year, that there is less worry about finding childcare, and that parents are able to use it in a variety of ways (e.g., short time, a few days a week, etc), there are also issues that are pointed out, such as that there are many facilities that cannot accommodate up to the capacity, that there are few opportunities to improve the quality of childcare, and that there are facilities that have insufficient relationships with local governments.

Therefore, in the joint research project between Cedep and Life Care Partners (Nippon Life Group), we are conducting research and creating various contents to develop and improve the quality of corporate-led childcare.