[Financial News, Incheon correspondent Han Gab-su] The city of Incheon is integrating its own care services with the government’s pilot nighttime emergency care services to establish a 24-hour care safety net.
Incheon city announced on the 3rd that it will expand the nighttime emergency care service project for four months from this month to December to alleviate the nighttime care gap for dual-income and low-income families.
This project will be linked with the nighttime specialized emergency care service pilot operation implemented nationwide by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.
The city plans to combine the government-driven project with its own childcare policy to establish a more thorough care safety net.
The nighttime emergency care service is provided from 10 PM to 6 AM the following day and is targeted at households with an income of 75% or less of the median income (type ‘A’). The nighttime surcharge (50% of the basic rate) will be fully funded by the government. For school-aged children, the personal cost per hour will be reduced from 4,566 won to 3,044 won, and an additional nighttime emergency care allowance of 5,000 won per day will be paid to care workers.
For families using the care service for the first time due to an emergency, the service will be provided immediately without income assessment, and after assessing income within a month, the personal cost will be refunded. This measure is applied only once to families using the childcare service for the first time.
The city is already operating proactive care policies through the ‘iPlus(i+) Gileur Dream’ project. Representative examples include the ‘1040 Angel Care,’ which provides an additional 80 hours of care annually to families that exceed the government support limit of 960 hours, and the ‘Incheon Extended Hourly Childcare,’ which offers emergency care early in the morning (from 7:30 AM to 9 PM) and on weekends (from 9 AM to 6 PM).
Additionally, an extra care allowance of 1,000 won is given during early morning (6 AM to 8 AM) and late evening (8 PM to 10 PM) hours to increase the link rate of childcare needed families and provide high-quality care.
The city expects that the integration of its own projects with the government’s pilot projects will reduce care blind spots, allowing more citizens to enjoy stable care benefits.
Yoo Jeong-bok, the mayor of Incheon, said, “The synergy between the government’s nighttime emergency childcare service and Incheon’s childcare policy will be significant.”