Child support advance payment system underutilizes budget; complex application process cited

South Korea's 'child support advance payment system,' introduced in July last year to support children of single-parent families, has seen a significantly lower uptake than anticipated, with less than half of the allocated budget utilized. In the past year, only 7.73 billion won out of a 16.2 billion won budget was disbursed, resulting in a budget execution rate of just 47.7%. The system is designed to provide an advance payment of 200,000 won per child per month until they reach adulthood to families with incomes below 150% of the poverty line, with the government subsequently seeking reimbursement from the non-custodial parent.

Government projections estimated a need for 13,500 children across an average of 9,300 households monthly. However, from July to December last year, only an average of 7,880 children in 4,983 households received support. While the number of supported households has steadily increased since the system's inception, from 188 in July to 4,709 in December, the overall utilization remains far below initial estimates.

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Considering it's the early stage of the system's implementation, the number of supported households and the amount of support are only about half of the initial plan. Therefore, there is a need to establish budgets based on more precise demand forecasting in the future.

The National Assembly Budget Office (NABO) pointed out the need for more accurate demand forecasting in budget allocation, noting that the current support levels are only about half of the planned figures. Although application requirements have been eased, such as changing the condition from "not receiving child support at all for the previous three months" to "receiving an average monthly child support less than the advance payment," and the income threshold will be abolished from October 29, several procedural hurdles remain.

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As this is a new system, active promotion is important. In particular, measures need to be prepared to directly inform the actual beneficiaries, single-parent family caregivers, in cooperation with associations related to single-parent family welfare facilities.

Applicants must meet the income criteria (currently below 150% of the poverty line), and possess an "enforcement title" – a document like a divorce agreement specifying child support obligations or a court ruling. If an enforcement title is absent, applicants must first go through a lawsuit to obtain one, a process that can take several months. Additionally, applicants need to provide proof of their efforts to secure child support payments.

NABO also highlighted the importance of active promotion for the new system, suggesting collaboration with organizations like single-parent family welfare associations to directly inform potential beneficiaries. Furthermore, the report emphasized the need to strengthen the recovery system for advance payments, as only 640 million won out of the 7.73 billion won disbursed had been recovered by the end of May. NABO recommended continuous consultation with relevant agencies, including the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the National Health Insurance Service, and the National Tax Service, to link their computer networks for better information gathering on non-custodial parents.

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For the recovery of advance payments, information investigation of the debtors is necessary. To this end, it is necessary to link relevant computer networks through continuous consultation with related organizations such as the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the National Health Insurance Service, and the National Tax Service.