Welfare Benefits Reduced by an Estimated 300 B. Yen in 2013-2018

In lawsuits in which welfare recipients around the country sought the revocation of benefit cuts, the Supreme Court is set to deliver a ruling on June 27 in the case of the Osaka High Court and another of the Nagoya High Court, where the judgments were divided. If the plaintiffs win, the state may be required to pay the reduced amount.
   
According to the welfare ministry, the reductions in the standard amount of welfare benefits affected the period from August 2013 to September 2018. During this period, the number of welfare recipients ranged from about 2.09 million to about 2.16 million.

In a document, the ministry estimated the fiscal effect of the first standard amount cut at around 15 billion yen in fiscal 2013, the second cut at some 26 billion yen in fiscal 2014 and the third cut also at about 26 billion yen in fiscal 2015. As a result, welfare benefit reductions on a government budget basis for fiscal 2013 to fiscal 2015 amounted to 15 billion yen, 41 billion yen and 67 billion yen, respectively.
   
The ministry has not made an estimate for fiscal 2016 and beyond, but a reduction of the same scale as in fiscal 2015 continued because there was no big change in the number of recipients. As a new standard amount revision was implemented in October 2018, Jiji Press estimated the reduction at 33.5 billion yen for fiscal 2018, half of the 67 billion yen for fiscal 2015, bringing the overall total reduction amount to more than 290 billion yen.

Regarding the estimate, a ministry official said, "It is not a figure issued by the ministry, but I can't say it is wrong."
   
Tetsuro Kokubo, an attorney representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit in Osaka, said that if the plaintiffs win the case at the Supreme Court, "The government should apologise to all recipients and pay the unpaid amount based on the standard amount before the reductions."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]