Bunkyo ward: choose "place now" or "leave can be extended" on the daycare form

Bunkyo ward (文京区) no longer accepts a daycare application whose aim is only to be put on hold. From April 2025 entry, every application has to pick one of two choices, and the choice changes how you are scored.

Why it changed

The page says the national employment-insurance rules (雇用保険法施行規則) now make the extension of childcare-leave pay (育児休業給付金) stricter. Two of the conditions it quotes:

• You did not say, when you applied, that you wanted to be put on hold (入所保留となることを希望する旨の意思表示をしていないこと).
• The facilities you applied to are not only ones more than 30 minutes one way from home without a reasonable reason (合理的な理由なく自宅から通所に片道30分以上要する施設のみとなっていないこと).

The page sends questions about the extension to Hello Work (ハローワーク).

The two choices

Choice	What the ward does
㋐ "I want a place immediately" (直ちに入所（転所）を希望する)	Normal selection, with points from the ward's daycare pamphlet, pp. 17–19.
㋑ "If I cannot get my chosen facility, I can accept extending my childcare leave" (希望する保育所等に入所できない場合は、育児休業の延長も許容できる)	Your selection points are set to 0 (base + adjustment = 0).

Whichever you choose, the page says Hello Work decides whether your childcare-leave pay is extended. The choice does not decide it.

Read this before choosing ㋑

• You can still be offered a place with 0 points. If a facility you listed has room, you may be offered it. If you then decline, the ward says it cannot issue a hold notice (保留通知書).
• A facility that showed no vacancies when places were announced can still have one by selection day.
• When several 0-point applicants want the same place, the ward ranks them by how long they have lived in Bunkyo without a break (区民としての期間), then by lower ward resident tax (区民税所得割額, "収入2" on the page).
• The ward does not issue a copy of your application. If you apply online (LoGo form), print the confirmation email yourself. It may be in your spam folder. If you apply on paper, copy it before you hand it in. Hello Work asks for that copy.
• If you need a hold notice again later in the same fiscal year and reapply, the page says you hand in only the application form, not the proof-of-need documents again.
• Being on hold for the month you wanted does not end the application. You can be offered a place in a later month. The page says you stay in selection up to the following January intake (翌年1月入所まで選考対象).
• The documents for ㋑ are the same full set as for ㋐.
• If you are not moving into Bunkyo, you cannot choose ㋑. You can still apply under ㋐.

Ask the ward's admissions desk (幼児保育課入園相談係, 03-5803-1190) before you submit. No choice on the form promises a place or an extension.