Taipei City Government's family friendly strategies to support families in Taipei
The ECCT's Family Friendly Alliance co-hosted an event with the Taipei City Government on advancing cooperation between government and corporations to develop strategies to support families in Taipei. The event featured opening by guests of honour You Zhu-Ping, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Labor, Taipei City Government (TCG, 臺北市政府勞動局 游竹萍 副局長); Chen Su-Hui, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Education, TCG (北市政府教育局 陳素慧 副局長) and Cheng Wen Hui, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Social Welfare, (TCG, 臺北市政府社會局 鄭文惠 副局長). This was followed by presentations by guest speakers Nien Yu-Han, Division Chief, Division of Welfare Services for Women and Child Care, Department of Social Welfare, TCG (臺北市政府社會局 粘羽涵 科長); Chien Ching-Pei, Division Chief, Department of Education, TCG (臺北市政府教育局 簡境霈 科長) and Chen Ming-Ling, Senior Specialist, Department of Labor, TCG (臺北市政府勞動局 陳明鈴 專門委員). Guest speakers shared some of the ways that the TCG is supporting the development of families in the city.
Taiwan's shrinking and ageing population is a growing concern for both the national and municipal authorities. In response, authorities at all levels of government are devising and implementing a number of measures to support families and create a family friendly environment in Taiwan. The Taipei City Government's departments of Social Welfare, Education, and Labor provide a diverse range of family friendly support services. This includes infant and childcare services and economic subsidies for infants and young children.
In her presentation, Nien Yu-Han discussed diverse and friendly parenting support services in Taipei city, including infant and childcare services, economic subsidies for young children, and the introduction of workplace nannies. Taipei City is committed to providing affordable childcare. So far, the city has built 85 childcare institutions and plans to expand this to 101 by December 2026. In addition, the city government is cooperating with high-quality childcare providers or private childcare centres and providing childcare subsidies to reduce the burden on parents (The cost of public and quasi-public childcare is shared by the government and parents). At present 78% of childcare centres in the city are either public or quasi-public. To improve the quality of childcare, the city is focused on optimising working conditions of childcare workers, installing childcare facility monitors and assisting with a management coaching mechanism.
The city has also established a workplace nanny system, which supports enterprises to provide childcare services for their employees' children. Enterprises wishing to participate in the scheme need to meet certain conditions, such as providing suitable and safe spaces and facilities.
In her presentation, Chien Ching-Pei talked about preschool education policy, including the expansion of childcare services, reducing the childcare burden through school subsidy policies, and progress in preschool education policy. The speaker listed monthly payment subsidies for the various types of preschools (kindergartens). The city government is also encouraging corporations to set up daycare centres in their workplaces citing the benefits of reducing the stress of conflicts between work and childcare, reducing employee absenteeism, improving labour productivity, improving parent-child relationships, reducing resignations and improving corporate image. The speaker went on to outline the requirements (including safety) and procedures to set up an inhouse childcare centre.
In her presentation, Chen Ming-Ling introduced the TCG's FFA award and provided further details about the TCG's subsidies for childcare.
The TCG initiated its Family Friendly Award in 2024, which is aimed at encouraging enterprises to make their workplaces more friendly. The TCG has also expanded its budget for the award to NT$1.8 million dollars for next year. Enterprises which have established an eligible childcare centre and those engaged with family-friendly measures for at least three years are eligible for the award. The criteria for an enterprise to win the award include having flexible workplace policies, offering financial support to employees, providing supportive child-care leave to their employees, establishing child-care centres, supporting measures to employees and their families, and more innovative and creative policies offered in their workplaces.
In terms of the qualifications for applying for child-care subsidies, employers which have registered their companies in Taipei City and meet the following criteria can apply for subsidies: those who have set up qualified nursery rooms, set up child-care centres, provide employees with chidcare subsidies, and provide employees with day-care services for their children. The TCG provides a variety of child-care subsidies, including NT$10,000 for setting up a nursery room, up to NT$1 million to set up a child day-care centre.
According to the speaker, in 2023, there were 86 applicants for subsidies for day-care services or nursery rooms of which the TCG subsidised 82 cases. However, enterprises still face difficulties, including a lack of employees or facilities. For this reason, the TCG encourages enterprises to apply for subsidies in order to facilitate public-private partnerships to create family-friendly workplaces.
You may download the speakers' slides below:
FFA-0617-Social Welfare113多元友善育兒支持服務及企業設置職場保母說明.pptx
