Staffing standards and labour for child development support and after-school day services — employment contracts and the wages behind the treatment-improvement addition

Bottom line first: The staffing standard for child development support and after-school day services is not simply "how many people" but "how many full-time-equivalent hours are met". So working-time management and employment-contract design tie directly to keeping and maintaining the designation. Child instructors or nursery teachers must number two or more for up to ten children with disabilities, adding one more for every five beyond ten, and at least one of them must be full-time.

To draw the treatment-improvement addition (the welfare and care worker treatment-improvement addition), wage-improvement plans and results, the career-path requirement and the workplace-environment requirement must be met and written into the work rules and wage rules. Part-time and short-hour staff, too, acquire a duty to enrol in social insurance once certain requirements are met.

The designation application itself and the addition notifications belong to a Gyoseishoshi (municipal procedures), premises to real estate, and the corporation's accounting and tax to a tax accountant. What this office takes on is the labour and social-insurance support; individual determinations are made by a qualified professional after a consultation.

How does the child instructor and nursery teacher standard tie to working-time management?

The staffing standard is counted by the "full-time-equivalent method". Full-time equivalent means dividing the total working hours of the staff by the hours a full-time member is to work at that office, converting the number of staff into full-time equivalents (defined in Article 2 of the standards ordinance). In other words, whether the standard is met turns not on how many part-timers are hired but on how many full-time equivalents the total working hours amount to.

Child development support is governed by Article 5 of the standards ordinance, and after-school day services by Article 66.

Role	Number	Basis (child development / after-school)
Child instructors or nursery teachers	Two or more for up to ten children with disabilities; add one for every five (or fraction) beyond ten	Article 5(1)(i) / Article 66(1)(i)
Of whom full-time	At least one full-time	Article 5(6) / Article 66(6)
Child development support manager	At least one; of whom at least one full-time and dedicated	Article 5(1)(ii) and (8) / Article 66(1)(ii) and (8)
Manager	One dedicated to that duty per office	Article 7 / applied by Article 67

For child development support, there are also provisions such as placing functional-training staff where functional training is provided (Article 5(2)).

Where working-time management is lax, the full-time-equivalent figure can fall below the standard, leaving the office short of the designation standard. Records of the duty roster (who worked how many hours) are labour management and, at the same time, documents for maintaining the designation.

How should employment contracts be designed to meet the full-time equivalent?

First pin down what "full-time" means through the contractual scheduled working hours. Full-time is a way of working that meets the hours a full-time member of that office is to work. If this does not match the scheduled working hours and days in the employment contract, the full-time-equivalent calculation breaks down.

Design point	What to decide on the labour side
Full-time scheduled hours	Make clear in the work rules the hours a full-time member is to work
Part-time scheduled hours	State scheduled hours and days in the employment contract (Labor Standards Act Article 15; Enforcement Ordinance Article 5)
Full-time-equivalent calculation	Each person's total working hours ÷ the hours a full-time member is to work
Records	Keep duty records (time cards and the like) and the duty schedule

Disclosure of working conditions is a duty under Article 15(1) of the Labor Standards Act, and the items to be disclosed are set out in Article 5 of the Enforcement Ordinance. Because some items require disclosure in writing (or by electronic delivery where the worker so requests), do not leave it to oral exchange alone. The duty to draw up work rules arises at a workplace ordinarily employing ten or more workers (Labor Standards Act Article 89). On when to draw up work rules, see From how many workers are work rules mandatory, and what is not mandatory.

To draw the treatment-improvement addition, what must the wage rules say?

The welfare and care worker treatment-improvement addition has, since June 2024, unified the former three additions (the treatment-improvement addition, the specified treatment-improvement addition and the base-up support addition). The requirements fall broadly into three.

Requirement	Outline	Where it lands on the labour side
Career-path requirement	Appointment requirements and a wage structure, training opportunities, a pay-rise mechanism and the like	Work rules, wage rules, career-path rules
Monthly wage-improvement requirement	Making the wage improvement from the addition in the form of monthly wages	Wage rules, wage ledger
Workplace-environment requirement	Efforts to improve the workplace environment	Work rules, internal rules, records

The addition is the source of funds for wages, but unless the mechanism that actually reflects it in wages is written into the rules and the plan and results of wage improvement can be shown, it cannot be claimed or maintained. Where the work rules or wage rules do not match reality, this is where it comes unstuck. On how prescribed hours, wages and working time relate — using the example of a disability group home — The treatment of working time differs between night duty and on-call at a disability group home offers a starting point.

The addition's category and rate, and the specific application of the review from fiscal 2026 onwards (such as expanding the covered roles), change by office and by year. Whether a particular category is selected or a notification can be filed is not concluded in this article.

From where does the social-insurance duty arise for part-time and short-hour staff?

Even staff who work short hours acquire a duty to enrol in employees' pension and health insurance once certain requirements are met. There are two axes of judgment.

Axis	Content
Three-quarters standard	Enrol where the weekly scheduled hours and the monthly scheduled working days are three-quarters or more of those of an ordinary worker at the same office
Short-hour worker coverage expansion	At a specified applicable workplace, enrol where all of these are met: scheduled hours of 20 or more per week, monthly wages of 88,000 yen or more, expected employment of more than two months, and not a student

Welfare workplaces have many part-timers, registered helpers and short-hour staff, and getting this judgment wrong causes missed enrolment and retroactive premiums. The range of workplaces subject to the coverage expansion has widened in stages. On the thinking behind short-hour workers' social insurance, see When you hire for short hours, what happens to social insurance; on the coverage expansion toward 2027, see What happens to the social-insurance coverage expansion in 2027. On dealing with the so-called "income wall", see also With the 1.06-million-yen wall abolished, what does an employer do.

Who should handle the labour, the designation notifications, the premises and the tax?

Preparing to open and run splits by responsible entity.

Issue	In charge
Employment contracts, work rules, wage rules, working-time management, social-insurance procedures	Shakai Hoken Roumushi (this office)
Designation application, addition notifications and other municipal procedures	Gyoseishoshi (municipal procedures)
Selecting and leasing the premises for the office	Real estate
The corporation's accounting and tax	Tax accountant

Designation applications and addition notifications are Gyoseishoshi work, and 四葉行政書士事務所 is a business entity independent of this office. Premises are accepted by 四葉不動産株式会社, also as a separate business entity. Where needed, we introduce them under a separate contract that you conclude directly, and 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 designing the labour side that meets the staffing standard, and maintaining it.

• Drawing up employment contracts reflecting the scheduled hours of full-time and part-time staff
• Designing duty rosters and shifts with the full-time equivalent in mind, and organising records of actual duty
• Preparing work rules and wage rules (including the part that writes in the treatment-improvement addition requirements)
• Judging and processing enrolment in social insurance for part-time and short-hour staff
• Designing the management of working time, breaks and overtime

The following are not handled here.

• Designation applications, addition notifications and other municipal procedures → 四葉行政書士事務所 accepts these as a separate business entity
• Selecting and leasing the premises for the office → 四葉不動産株式会社 accepts this as a separate business entity
• The corporation's accounting and tax, and the tax treatment of income and expenditure from the addition → we connect you with a tax accountant (Zeirishi)
• Registration procedures for the office → we connect you with a judicial scrivener (Shiho Shoshi)

四葉不動産株式会社, 四葉行政書士事務所 and 四葉社会保険労務士事務所 each accept work as an independent business entity, under a separate contract. Where another professional is introduced, you contract with them directly, and this office receives 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. Can the staffing standard be met with part-timers alone?
A. If the full-time-equivalent figure is met, meeting the standard through a combination of part-timers is itself possible. However, at least one child instructor or nursery teacher must be full-time, and at least one child development support manager must be full-time and dedicated (Articles 5 and 66 of the standards ordinance). Trying to run on part-timers alone without a full-time member fails this full-time requirement.

Q. How is the full-time equivalent calculated?
A. Divide the staff's total working hours by the hours a full-time member is to work at that office, converting into full-time equivalents (defined in Article 2 of the standards ordinance). For example, at an office where full-time is 40 hours a week, two part-timers working 20 hours each make 20＋20＝40 hours, that is, one full-time equivalent. Making clear in the work rules "the hours a full-time member is to work" is the premise of the calculation.

Q. Are wage rules essential for the treatment-improvement addition?
A. To show that the addition's requirements (career-path, monthly wage-improvement and workplace-environment) are met, it is practically necessary to have the wage structure, the pay-rise mechanism and the content of the wage improvement set out as rules. Without a mechanism in the rules that actually reflects the addition's wage improvement in wages, claiming and maintaining it becomes difficult. Whether a particular category is selected or a notification can be filed turns on the circumstances, and this article does not conclude it.

Q. Are work rules needed even with fewer than ten staff?
A. The duty to draw up and file under Article 89 of the Labor Standards Act arises at a workplace ordinarily employing ten or more workers. With fewer than ten, that duty itself does not arise. But arranging the wage structure and pay-rise mechanism as rules, to meet the treatment-improvement addition requirements, is often practically necessary regardless of headcount. Think of the mandatory work rules and the rules arranged for the addition as having different purposes.

Basis for this article

• Standards concerning staff, equipment and operation of designated services under the Child Welfare Act (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Ordinance No. 15 of 2012) Article 2 — definition of the "full-time-equivalent method" (dividing the staff's total working hours by the hours a full-time member is to work at that office, converting into full-time equivalents)
• Same standards ordinance, Article 5 (child development support) — paragraph 1, item 1 = number of child instructors or nursery teachers (two or more for up to ten children, adding one for every five or fraction beyond ten); paragraph 6 = at least one full-time; paragraph 1, item 2 and paragraph 8 = at least one child development support manager, of whom at least one full-time and dedicated; paragraph 2 = functional-training staff and the like
• Same standards ordinance, Article 66 (after-school day services) — the same staffing standard as child development support; paragraph 6 = at least one full-time; paragraph 8 = at least one child development support manager full-time and dedicated
• Same standards ordinance, Article 7 (applied by Article 67) — a manager dedicated to that duty per office
• Labor Standards Act (Act No. 49 of 1947) Article 15(1); Enforcement Ordinance Article 5 — disclosure of working conditions (the items and disclosure in writing and the like)
• Same Act, Article 89 — duty of an employer ordinarily employing ten or more workers to draw up and file work rules
• Welfare and care worker treatment-improvement addition — from June 2024, unifying the former treatment-improvement addition, specified treatment-improvement addition and base-up support addition. The requirements are the career-path requirement, the monthly wage-improvement requirement and the workplace-environment requirement (confirmed on 22 August 2026 from Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare materials)
• Short-hour workers' social insurance — the three-quarters standard (enrol where weekly scheduled hours and monthly scheduled working days are three-quarters or more of an ordinary worker's), and, at a specified applicable workplace, the requirements of 20 or more hours a week, monthly wages of 88,000 yen or more, expected employment of more than two months, and not a student (Employees' Pension Insurance Act and Health Insurance Act; confirmed 22 August 2026)
• The standards ordinance is now under the Children and Families Agency (transferred from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in April 2023). The ordinance's name and number remain Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Ordinance No. 15 of 2012
• The addition's category and rate, and the expansion of covered roles from fiscal 2026 onwards, differ by office and by year and are not covered here (unverified)
• Any additional standards a municipality adds (staffing additions or locally specific practice) depend on that municipality's by-laws and guidelines and are not covered here (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 drawing up employment contracts reflecting full-time and part-time scheduled hours, designing duty rosters with the full-time equivalent in mind and organising duty records, preparing work rules and wage rules, judging and processing social-insurance enrolment for part-time and short-hour staff, and designing the management of working time, breaks and overtime. Designation applications and addition notifications are accepted by 四葉行政書士事務所 as a separate business entity, and selecting and leasing the premises by 四葉不動産株式会社 as a separate business entity, each contracted separately. The corporation's accounting and tax are matters we connect you with a tax accountant (Zeirishi) for, and registration with a judicial scrivener (Shiho Shoshi). If a different professional is needed, each is contracted separately, and 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).