What does a Shakai Hoken Roumushi retainer fee actually pay for?

In short: The retainer fee charged by a Shakai Hoken Roumushi (Certified Social Insurance and Labor Consultant) covers different things at different offices. Most offices charge an inclusive fee bundling "consultation plus basic procedural filings," but at 四葉 the retainer is the price of consultation only. Filings are billed each time they arise, even for retainer clients. Two offices can both charge 33,000 yen a month and include entirely different things.

When you set out to compare retainer fees, the headline amounts all sit within a similar range, yet the total you actually pay differs from office to office. The reason is simple: there is no common standard for what the retainer fee includes.

What is normally included in a retainer fee?

At most offices, the retainer fee bundles the following.

• consultation on labor and employment matters
• notice of amendments to the law
• basic filings such as those on hiring and departure
• annual filings such as the 算定基礎届 (standard monthly remuneration calculation report) and the 年度更新 (annual labor insurance premium declaration)

The third and fourth items are commonly included. That is why so many offices can say, "if you are paying the retainer, the filing for one new hire costs nothing extra."

There is sense in this. From the employer's side, a fixed monthly amount that also covers filings is easier to grasp. From the office's side, it reduces the administrative work of billing item by item.

Why did 四葉 not take that form?

The retainer fee of 四葉社会保険労務士事務所 is the price of labor and employment consultation, and only that. For labor and social insurance filings, we charge retainer clients the rates in the fee schedule each time they arise.

There were three reasons.

First, we wanted to avoid consultation becoming an afterthought. With a retainer that includes filings, a month in which no filing arises tends to feel like "paying for nothing." We wanted to make it clear that consultation is the main thing and filings are secondary.

Second, we wanted to avoid unfairness arising from the volume of filings. If a workplace with many arrivals and departures and one with few pay the same retainer, one of them loses out. The more turnover an industry has, the more it benefits from an inclusive fee. Turned around, that means the workplaces with little turnover are carrying it.

On how we price payroll calculation, see What does it cost to have a Shakai Hoken Roumushi do your payroll calculation?.

Third, we did not want to place limits on consultation. In return for not including filings, we accept consultation with no limit on the number of times or the length of time. We have not set any "up to so many times" or "up to so many hours."

This design has a sequel. Support for switching monthly work such as payroll to in-house processing on freee is included in the retainer fee. At offices that bundle filings and payroll into the retainer, the more a client moves in-house, the thinner the grounds for the retainer become. Because 四葉's retainer is the price of consultation, supporting the switch to in-house does not change what the retainer means — if anything, the weight of consultation grows, in the form of designing the settings and talking through each month's close. What the in-house option involves is set out in We want to run payroll in-house on freee — what do we ask a shakai hoken roumushi for?.

Does the total change even when the monthly amount is the same?

We will state this plainly. Because filings are billed separately, in a year with many filings the total will come out higher than at an office with an inclusive fee.

	Typical inclusive model	四葉
Retainer fee	Consultation + basic filings	Consultation only
Filings on hiring and departure	Usually included in the retainer	Billed each time
算定基礎届 and 年度更新	Usually included in the retainer	Billed each time
Number and length of consultations	Some offices set limits	No limit
Payroll calculation	Usually charged separately	Charged separately (paired with a retainer agreement). Support for switching to in-house on freee is included in the retainer

If you line up only the monthly figures on the fee schedules, 四葉 looks inexpensive. That reading is not correct. The filings are added on top. When you are weighing this up, estimate how many filings are likely to arise over a year and compare the totals.

Can you ask us to handle filings only?

We do not accept that. The reason we do not take filing-only work is the risk of processing a matter on mistaken assumptions without knowing the actual situation.

Suppose we receive a request to "submit the 資格取得届 (notification of acquisition of insured status)." Filling in the form is simple enough, but how many hours a week does this person work? What does the employment contract say? Is the treatment balanced against that of the other employees? Processing the filing without knowing these things can mean leaving out someone who should be enrolled, or enrolling someone who is outside the scope. Going back and correcting it afterwards takes far more time and money.

For corporate clients and sole proprietors, we accept work on the premise of a retainer agreement. However, consultation on disability pensions (individual clients) is not premised on a retainer agreement. We accept those directly from the person concerned or their family.

Is there a charge each time regulations have to be updated for an amendment to the law?

There is not. For regulations that we drafted ourselves, we revise the affected provisions and make the required filings in response to amendments to the law within the retainer fee. There is no limit on the number of times.

Labor-related legislation is amended almost every year. If each round of corrections to the work rules cost money, having had the rules drawn up would itself become a liability. Revisions made for the company's own reasons are charged at the "work rules — amendment" rate, but keeping up with amendments to the law is done within the retainer fee.

Frequently asked questions

Q. How many consultations can I have in a month?
A. We set no limit on the number of times or the length of time. The retainer fee is the price of consultation, so placing a limit would be inconsistent with what it is for.

Q. Is there a charge from the very first consultation?
A. The first consultation is free for up to 60 minutes. If it does not lead to a retainer agreement, the second and subsequent consultations are charged at 11,000 yen per hour (tax included). Consultations after a retainer agreement is in place are covered by the retainer fee.

Q. Is the retainer fee decided by the number of employees?
A. It is decided by bands. It starts at 22,000 yen a month (tax included) for up to 4 people and runs to 77,000 yen a month (tax included) for 25 to 29 people, in steps of 5 people. For 30 or more, we quote individually. The number counted is officers plus employees, including part-timers and casual staff — not the number of people enrolled in social insurance. The bands are a guide: because the retainer is payment for consultation, we quote the band that matches the content and volume of your consultations.

Q. Do retainer clients get a discount on filings?
A. No. Filings are accepted only from retainer clients, so there is nothing to compare them against. Because we never take filing-only work from anyone without a retainer agreement, we do not use the notion of a "retainer client price."

Sources for this article

• the Certified Social Insurance and Labor Consultant Act (社会保険労務士法, Act No. 89 of 1968), Article 2, paragraph 1, items 1, 2 and 3; Article 27
• The fees of 四葉社会保険労務士事務所 are published in the fee schedule. All amounts include tax.
• The description of other offices' fee structures sets out general tendencies compiled from the fee schedules of several Shakai Hoken Roumushi offices published as of August 2026. It does not represent the terms of any individual office's agreement.

This article is general information. Judgments that depend on your particular circumstances are made by a qualified professional after a meeting. Written by Joji Uramatsu (Shakai Hoken Roumushi, Gyoseishoshi, Registered Real Estate Transaction Specialist).