Making Housework Support a National Qualification Will Not Stop Caregiving Resignations

[Conclusion]

Even if housework support services are made into a national qualification, caregiving resignations will not stop.

The government is currently putting forward the national qualification of housework support services as a measure against caregiving resignations.

At the Japan Growth Strategy Council on April 22, 2026, the Prime Minister instructed that, in order to prevent resignations due to the burden of housework such as childcare and nursing care, the government should accelerate consideration toward holding the first examination for a national qualification for housework support services around the autumn of 2027. At the same time, he also requested the consideration of support measures, including tax system measures.

There is a need to reduce caregiving resignations.

To continue caregiving while working, long-term care insurance services alone are not enough. There are many burdens that remain outside the system, such as cleaning, laundry, cooking, shopping, accompanying, and life support that is close to watching over.

However, housework support and monitoring for the elderly are already operating in the private sector. Moreover, the government has even released documents regarding the reasons why they are difficult to expand.

What leads to caregiving resignations is not the presence or absence of a qualification, but the state in which families cannot immediately reach the support they need.

If that is the case, a new national qualification is not needed.

What is needed is a form that allows families to connect to existing services without hesitation, without having to search around for them themselves.

[Content presented by the government this time]

In the materials from the Employment Environment and Equal Employment Subcommittee of the Labor Policy Council on March 26, 2026, it is stated as the content of the "Liaison Conference of Relevant Ministries and Agencies on Promoting the Use of Services Contributing to Reducing the Burden of Housework, etc." that for the housework support field, the government will comprehensively consider the promotion of dissemination and public relations, surveys on actual conditions and needs, improvement of quality and reliability, human resource development, the ideal state of related public qualifications, and support measures.

The talk of national qualification presented at the Japan Growth Strategy Council on April 22 is also an extension of this flow.

The government is trying to take the form of a national qualification as a way to show the quality and reliability of housework support services.

What became clearer than this time is the point that this was presented as a measure against caregiving resignations.

Long-term care insurance alone cannot support the burden that returns to the family. Therefore, the direction of organizing non-insurance housework support services itself is necessary.

The problem is that they are putting forward a national qualification there. The order of organization is wrong.

[However, existing services already exist]

At the point when the provision of business operator information, promotion of matching, and dissemination of the "Housekeeping Specialist Organization Certification" are included in the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's materials, the premise already has a foundation of private services and awareness.

In other words, this story is not about creating a new blank field, but about the government trying to layer the form of a qualification onto a field that already exists.

Caregiving resignations are not happening because housework support itself does not exist. Services already exist. Yet, they are difficult to reach for those who need them.

Creating a national qualification without looking at that reality will not shift the burden away from families.

[Looking at the reasons for non-utilization]

Moreover, the government has already identified the reasons why housework support services are difficult to expand.

The materials indicate high costs, resistance to having strangers enter the home, resistance to delegating housework, security concerns, and a lack of perceived necessity.

Regarding usage status, while 2% say they are "using it," 76% say they "know about it but have never used it."

What is visible here is not a lack of qualifications.

The fact that many people know about it but do not use it means that the existence of the service is not the only problem. High costs, anxiety about letting people into the home, and difficulty in knowing where to turn when the need arises are barriers to usage.

Even if a national qualification is created in this state, the reasons for not using it will remain.

What families who are pushed to the point of quitting their jobs need is not an explanation of a qualification system.

Who can be asked to do what right now? How much does it cost? What can be done through long-term care insurance? What should be requested outside of insurance? Who will organize and connect these things?

What should be looked at is not creating qualifications, but why existing services are not being used sufficiently.

[Burdens outside the system are returning to families]

In the field of long-term care, there are many situations where families and care managers are filling in the gaps for life support that are not covered by insurance or fall outside the system.

Shopping, arranging medical visits, tidying up the house, sudden calls, and detailed confirmations. Even if each one seems small, they are not light for families supporting a parent's life while working.

As long as families can somehow manage, it is difficult for it to surface as a systemic problem. However, once the balance between work and caregiving begins to collapse, it immediately becomes a problem of caregiving resignation.

If necessary responses continue to pile up without being officially positioned anywhere, it ultimately becomes an invisible burden on families and those in the field.

Therefore, what is needed is not to increase qualifications.

What should be covered under long-term care insurance, and what should be connected outside of it? What are the things that families should not have to bear? How far can care managers and comprehensive support centers guide people? What information should the administration provide?

This organization is what is necessary.

Once that is in place, it will also lead to the organization of shadow work that is currently being ambiguously pushed onto those around the care recipient.

[Summary]

To prevent people from leaving their jobs to provide care, it is necessary to organize housekeeping support services.

Long-term care insurance alone cannot support the burden that falls back on the family. It is also necessary to move in a direction that makes it easier to use non-insurance-based life support.

However, there is no need to make housekeeping support a national qualification.

Existing services are available, and the reasons why they are difficult to expand are also becoming clear. What should be done first is not a national qualification.

What is needed first is to clarify what should be covered under long-term care insurance and what should be connected to outside services.

On top of that, it is about creating a system where people can connect to existing services without hesitation.

What is needed to prevent people from leaving their jobs to provide care is not the creation of new qualifications.

What is needed for housekeeping support is not a qualification label, but a form that can be used without hesitation.