The government plans to slash child-rearing allowances for single mothers in a bid to reduce rising social security outlays caused by increasing divorce rates in families with young children, government sources said Thursday.
The plan, which would drastically cut the length of eligibility for allowances for single mothers, would be incorporated in proposed legislation to be submitted to the Diet in mid-March. The government plans to implement the new allowance system from fiscal 2003.
At present, a single mother with an annual income under 2.05 million yen gets a government allowance of 42,370 yen per month. The monthly allowance drops to 28,350 yen for those with annual incomes between 2.05 million yen and 3 million yen.