To prevent nannies from raising prices to garner all the governmental subsidies, Taichung City Government sets up a price control policy to regulate those babysitting centers and nannies that receive an extra grant of NT$3,000 from the city government. If you find any of the babysitting centers and nannies raises price, please call 1999 to report the case to the Social Affairs Bureau.

To lessen the childcare burden of parents with children under 2 years old, the central government subsidizes them NT$ 2,000 to NT$5,000 per month for childcare costs. On top of that, Taichung City Government also grants them NT$2,000 to NT$3,000 per month. Thus, a family can get a monthly allowance of about NT$ 6,000 on average. This policy is meant to make childcare service more affordable for parents and increase job opportunities for childcare service providers, said the Social Affairs Bureau.

Assuming that the monthly childcare service fee is NT$ 13,000 and a family receives a monthly allowance of NT$ 6,000, then the family needs to pay only NT$7,000 for childcare, noted the Social Affairs Bureau. Statistics have also shown that the number of babysitting centers has increased by over 30%, the number of nannies has increased by more than 15%, and the number of children sent to childcare centers has grown by more than 35%.

Taichung City Government has also decided to push out the "end-to-end childcare" policy from July 2015 onward, in which the age of babies receiving childcare allowance is expanded from the current 0-2 years old to 0-6 years old, the free tuition policy for children at 5 years old is lowered down to kids aged 2, and the monthly child care allowance for 0-6-year-old kids of disadvantaged families is increased from NT$3,000 to NT$5,000. It is hoped to create a “win-win-win” situation for parents, early childhood education sector, and the nannies.

To avoid price hikes in disguise, the Social Affairs Bureau has set up the price cap and a “no-price hiking in principle” policy for babysitting centers and nannies to follow. Social Affairs Bureau has also posted the roster of babysitting centers and nannies with their standard fee charges on the website of Social Affairs Bureau of Taichung Government.

Social Affairs Bureau urges parents to choose babysitting center or nanny in cooperation with the city government, so as to enjoy the additional subsidy of NT$ 2,000 to NT$ 3,000. It also reminds parents to check the standard fee charges on its website, when selecting a childcare service provider and report any suspected price hike case to the Social Affairs Bureau.