Chile: Proposal to extend mandatory childcare benefits to all employers

Employer Action Code: Monitor

Currently, employers in Chile with 20 or more female employees must offer onsite facilities for nursing mothers as well as childcare for children up to age two, arrange for such services near the workplace, or grant the nursery benefit for children under the age of two. The employer can fulfill this obligation by providing a nursery of its own, a common nursery with other employers, or by directly funding an authorized nursery attended by the child. A recently proposed bill (Bill 14782-13) would make the provision of childcare a universal benefit, requiring all employers to provide childcare benefits, financed by a new childcare fund. The government aims to replace the current mandate because it can discourage employers from hiring women of childbearing age.

Key details

The bill would introduce the following provisions:

• All private sector employers, regardless of workforce size and gender composition, would be required to guarantee access to nursery services for their employees according to the following timetable:
• Year one: all mothers (including legal guardians) in formal employment under the Labor Code
• Year two: self-employed mothers and domestic workers
• Year three: fathers in formal employment under the Labor Code (including the self-employed) with partners who are studying or actively seeking employment
• Year four: fathers in formal employment and partners who are not working, plus fathers working in the public sector

• A new Childcare Fund would be established to finance the associated costs for employers, funded by diverting 0.35% of the employer’s unemployment insurance contributions (2.40% of pay) for each permanent employee up to 135.2 UFs ^[1] per month (separate funding requirements would apply to the self-employed). The government would also contribute approximately 10 billion Chilean pesos (CLP) to the fund (approximately US$10 million) in the first two years after its creation
• Employers could meet the requirement to provide access to childcare services by providing onsite childcare directly or through contracts with local service providers, but employers would not be required to do so. Similarly, if the fund’s finances were insufficient to cover the cost of care with external providers, employers would not be required to make up the difference

Employer implications

The bill was passed by the Senate on September 8, 2026, but without the 0.35% funding mechanism. The bill is now with the Chamber of Deputies for review, where the government is pushing to reinstate the funding provision as part of its aim to enact the mandate without imposing additional labor costs on employers. Although the fund is intended to cover childcare expenses, the employee would be required to cover any shortfall. Opponents of the bill note it would also pose a significant challenge for the fund to regulate childcare services and costs. Of the companies surveyed by WTW that have existing childcare or childcare allowance programs, 30% offer childcare facilities (in-house or external) and 62% provide monthly allowances. Fifty-three percent of the programs are offered exclusively to female employees. Employers should review the draft bill and their existing childcare policies, if any, in preparation for the bill’s passage.

Footnote

1. Social security contributions and benefits are based on accounting units Unidades de Fomento (UF), the daily value of which is determined by the Central Bank based on changes in consumer prices in the previous month. As of September 1, 2026, the value of a single UF is CLP$40,875.09 (approximately US$40). Return to article undo