Labour at an after-school children's club (gakudo): placing support staff, opening hours and shifts, and part-timers' social insurance

Bottom line first: The labour of an after-school children's club (gakudo) turns on the shifts that keep two or more after-school child support staff per support unit (Standards on Equipment and Operation of After-School Child Health Development Services = Ordinance of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare No. 63 of 2014, Article 10), the duty design for the long opening hours from weekday afternoon into the evening and across the long holidays, and part-time support staff's social insurance. The standard on the number and qualification of support staff changed from a national "standard to comply with" to a "standard to refer to" on 1 April 2020 (Reiwa 2), so the applicable standard is set by the municipality's ordinance. The notification and operating standards belong to a Gyoseishoshi, the property and use district to a real-estate agent, and tax to a tax accountant, each contracted separately as an independent business entity. It is a different system from after-school day services (ambulatory support for children with disabilities).

This page sets out not the staffing standard itself, but the design of opening hours, shifts and social insurance needed to keep meeting it. The notification to the municipality and conformity with the operating standards are the area of a Gyoseishoshi and the municipality; this article focuses on labour.

How many after-school child support staff are needed per support unit, and how does that affect labour?

Article 10 of the Standards on Equipment and Operation of After-School Child Health Development Services (Ordinance of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare No. 63 of 2014) sets the number of after-school child support staff at two or more per support unit. However, all but one of them may be replaced by an assistant (a person who assists the support the after-school child support staff provide).

Item	Content (Ordinance No. 63 of 2014, Article 10)
Number of support staff	Two or more after-school child support staff per support unit; all but one may be replaced by an assistant
Support unit	Composed of approximately 40 or fewer children (Article 10(4))
Support-staff qualification	A person who holds a basic qualification such as nursery teacher or certified social worker and has completed training conducted by the prefectural governor etc. (Article 10(3))

What labour must grasp is that "two or more" is a placement requiring two to be on-site at all times, so you must build shifts that do not drop below it throughout the opening hours. Planning the headcount including assistants and designing the roster so the unit never drops below two even when a support worker is on paid leave or sick leave are labour tasks. The standard on the number and qualification of support staff was revised from the national "standard to comply with" to a "standard to refer to" on 1 April 2020 (Reiwa 2), and the applicable standard is set by the municipality's ordinance. Check how your municipality's ordinance sets it with the municipality you notify. The duty to prepare work rules is set out in From how many employees are work rules mandatory.

What shifts work for the long opening hours of weekday afternoon-to-evening and the long holidays?

An after-school children's club opens from after school into the evening on weekdays, and from morning into the evening on Saturdays and long holidays such as summer. One support worker's scheduled hours (8 hours a day) cannot cover a day's opening, so you build a shift system on rotation that always secures two or more per support unit.

Opening type	Labour consideration
Weekday (after school to evening)	Even if opening is short, a time band requiring two or more arises. Fill the bands with a combination of part-time support staff
Long holiday (morning to evening)	A day's opening is long and exceeds one worker's scheduled hours. Use early/late rotation, securing two or more in overlapping bands too
Saturday / school-closure day	The number of children and staff differs from weekdays, so prepare a separate roster

What matters here is a roster combining early shifts, late shifts and part-timers. Because opening hours differ greatly between weekdays and long holidays, there are peaks across the year. Working-hour management and roster design directly govern conformity with the staffing standard.

Can you use variable working hours or the yearly variable system?

Because the allotment of working hours differs greatly between weekdays and long holidays, a variable working-hours system is an option.

System	Basis	Where it fits
Monthly variable working hours	Labour Standards Act Article 32-2	When duty concentrates on Saturdays and school-closure days within a month. Set in work rules or a labour-management agreement
Yearly variable working hours	Labour Standards Act Article 32-4	When duty concentrates in long holidays such as summer, with peaks across a year. A labour-management agreement and filing are required

If you adopt yearly variable working hours, even a worksite with fewer than 10 regular workers cannot use the 44-hour-a-week special rule and calculates on 40 hours a week, with limits on working days, consecutive working days and daily/weekly hours over the target period. Work beyond statutory hours requires a 36 Agreement and premium wages (Labour Standards Act Article 37). Choosing a system is set out in Choosing variable working hours and flextime, and the overtime cap in How far can a 36 Agreement allow overtime. Which system fits your opening pattern turns on the number of long-holiday days and how the roster is built.

When do part-time and short-hour support staff need social insurance?

Even a part-time after-school child support worker or assistant becomes an insured person under health insurance and employees' pension insurance if their weekly scheduled working hours and monthly scheduled working days are three-quarters or more of a regular worker at the same establishment. A short-hour worker below this three-quarters still joins if they meet the requirements of the expanded coverage for short-hour workers.

Category	Guide to joining
Three-quarters rule	Insured if weekly scheduled hours and monthly scheduled days are three-quarters or more of a regular worker
Expanded coverage for short-hour workers	At a specified covered establishment with more than 51 insured persons on a constant basis, insured if weekly scheduled hours are 20 or more, monthly wage is 88,000 yen or more, employment is expected for over 2 months, and the person is not a student (expanded to 51+ employees from October 2024)

The idea of social insurance for short-hour workers is in Social insurance for short-hour workers and the three-quarters rule, and the course of expanded coverage in How far will the expansion of social-insurance coverage go. Judging the insured status of a part-timer whose hours rise only in long holidays can differ where the contractual scheduled hours and the reality diverge (unverified).

How does the labour of after-school day services' staffing standard differ?

An after-school children's club (gakudo) and an after-school day service have similar names but are different systems. Confusing them changes both the staffing standard and the governing law.

Item	After-school children's club (gakudo)	After-school day service
System	After-school child health development service (Child Welfare Act Article 6-3(2))	Ambulatory support for children with disabilities (Child Welfare Act Article 6-2-2)
Target	School-age children whose guardians are absent from home in the daytime due to work etc.	Children with disabilities attending school
Staffing basis	Ordinance No. 63 of 2014, Article 10 (two or more support staff per support unit)	Ordinance of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare No. 15 of 2012 (child instructor or nursery teacher, child development support manager, etc.)
Notification / designation	Notification to the municipality (Child Welfare Act Article 34-8)	Designation by the prefecture etc.

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The labour of after-school day services' staffing and full-time-equivalent conversion is in After-school day services' comprehensive-support type / specific-programme type and staffing and Staffing standards and labour for child development support and after-school day services. The way of counting the full-time equivalent itself is in How do you calculate the full-time equivalent, and the staffing and treatment of a nursery in Staffing standards and treatment when opening a nursery. Who handles each procedure differs with the qualification.

Procedure	In charge
Notification to the municipality, organising the operating standards	Gyoseishoshi (四葉行政書士事務所, a business entity independent of this office)
Headcount planning, shifts, variable working hours, social insurance, work rules	Shakai Hoken Roumushi (四葉社会保険労務士事務所)
Confirming the use district and floor area of the facility property	Real-estate agent
Tax	Tax accountant

四葉社会保険労務士事務所 accepts labour work as an independent business entity, and where another professional such as a Gyoseishoshi (四葉行政書士事務所) or a real-estate agent is needed, we introduce them under a contract you conclude directly, separately. This office takes no referral fee.

What can 四葉社会保険労務士事務所 do?

What this office takes on is the design of labour so an after-school children's club can employ support staff stably while meeting the staffing standard.

• Headcount planning that never drops below two per support unit, and designing the roster including assistants
• Building an early/late rotation covering weekday afternoon-to-evening and long-holiday morning-to-evening
• Designing monthly and yearly variable working-hours systems matched to the opening pattern, and preparing the 36 Agreement and premium wages
• The social-insurance acquisition and loss of status for part-time and short-hour support staff, and confirming the expanded-coverage requirements
• Preparing work rules, wage rules, notice of working conditions and working-hour management

The notification to the municipality and operating standards belong to a Gyoseishoshi, the facility property to a real-estate agent, and tax to a tax accountant. 四葉社会保険労務士事務所 accepts work as an independent business entity, and where another professional is needed, we introduce them under a contract you conclude directly, separately. There is no referral fee.

Consultations are free of charge. Fees are set out in the fee schedule; see also our services and how a consultation proceeds.

Frequently asked questions

Q. How many after-school child support staff should we place?
A. Article 10 of the Standards on Equipment and Operation of After-School Child Health Development Services (Ordinance No. 63 of 2014) sets two or more after-school child support staff per support unit. However, all but one may be replaced by an assistant. A support unit is composed of approximately 40 or fewer children. This standard on number and qualification became a national "standard to refer to" from 1 April 2020, and the applicable standard is set by the municipality's ordinance, so check with the municipality you notify.

Q. What qualification is needed to be a support worker?
A. A person who holds a basic qualification such as nursery teacher or certified social worker and has completed training conducted by the prefectural governor etc. becomes an after-school child support worker (Ordinance No. 63 of 2014, Article 10(3)). An assistant has no such qualification requirement and assists the support staff. A revision of the training-eligibility requirements is planned; confirm the latest content with the prefecture/municipality's guidance (unverified).

Q. What shifts work for the long opening hours?
A. Because the club opens from after school into the evening on weekdays and from morning into the evening in long holidays, one worker's scheduled hours cannot cover it. Use an early/late rotation that always secures two or more per support unit. Where weekdays and long holidays differ greatly, a monthly (Labour Standards Act Article 32-2) or yearly (Article 32-4) variable working-hours system is an option. The yearly system cannot use the 44-hour-a-week special rule and calculates on 40 hours a week.

Q. When do part-time support staff need social insurance?
A. If weekly scheduled hours and monthly scheduled days are three-quarters or more of a regular worker, they become insured under health and employees' pension insurance. Even below three-quarters, they join if, at a specified covered establishment with more than 51 insured persons on a constant basis, they meet 20+ weekly hours, a monthly wage of 88,000 yen or more, employment expected over 2 months, and not being a student (expanded to 51+ employees from October 2024). Judgement where hours rise only in long holidays differs by individual circumstances.

Basis for this article

• Standards on Equipment and Operation of After-School Child Health Development Services (Ordinance of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare No. 63 of 2014) Article 10 — two or more after-school child support staff per support unit (all but one replaceable by an assistant); a support unit composed of approximately 40 or fewer children (paragraph 4); support staff holding a basic qualification such as nursery teacher or certified social worker and having completed training conducted by the prefectural governor etc. (paragraph 3)
• The standard on the number and qualification of support staff was revised from the national "standard to comply with" to a "standard to refer to" by the 9th Decentralization Omnibus Act (Act No. 26 of 2019) and enforced on 1 April 2020 (Reiwa 2). The applicable standard is set by the municipality's ordinance (Cabinet Office, Decentralization Reform, "After-school children's club" materials, accessed 1 October 2026)
• Child Welfare Act (Act No. 164 of 1947) Article 6-3(2) — definition of the after-school child health development service (providing school-age children whose guardians are absent from home in the daytime due to work etc. with a place for appropriate play and daily life after school, to promote their sound development); Article 34-8 — notification to the municipality where a person other than the municipality provides it
• Labour Standards Act (Act No. 49 of 1947) Articles 32-2 (monthly variable working hours), 32-4 (yearly variable working hours), 36 (overtime and holiday work), 37 (premium wages) and 89 (duty to prepare and file work rules)
• Health Insurance Act (Act No. 70 of 1922) and Employees' Pension Insurance Act (Act No. 115 of 1954) — the three-quarters rule and the expanded coverage for short-hour workers (at a specified covered establishment with more than 51 insured persons on a constant basis: 20+ weekly hours, monthly wage of 88,000 yen or more, employment expected over 2 months, not a student; expanded to 51+ employees from October 2024. Japan Pension Service "Expansion of social-insurance coverage", accessed 1 October 2026)
• The setting of the support-staff number by municipal ordinance, the choice of a variable working-hours system, the judgement of insured status for short-hour workers, and the revision of the training-eligibility requirements differ by the municipality's ordinance, the individual working reality and future revisions. This article does not conclude on the individual case (unverified)

This article is general information. Individual determinations are made by a qualified professional after a consultation, in light of individual circumstances. 四葉社会保険労務士事務所 can advise on headcount planning that never drops below two per support unit and the roster, an early/late rotation for the long opening hours, variable working hours matched to the opening pattern, the 36 Agreement and premium wages, the social insurance and expanded-coverage requirements for part-time and short-hour support staff, and preparing work rules and wage rules. The notification to the municipality and operating standards are handled by a Gyoseishoshi (四葉行政書士事務所), the facility property by a real-estate agent, and tax by a tax accountant. 四葉社会保険労務士事務所 accepts work as an independent business entity, and where another professional is needed, we introduce them under a contract you conclude directly, separately; there is no referral fee. Frequently asked questions are collected in the FAQ. Written by Joji Uramatsu (Shakai Hoken Roumushi, Gyoseishoshi, Registered Real Estate Transaction Specialist).