Court rejects claim to reinstate additional benefits for elderly

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Court rejects claim to reinstate additional benefits for elderly

The Tokyo High Court on May 27 upheld the Tokyo District Court decision that the abolition of additional benefits for the elderly in the livelihood protection program is constitutional.

A group of eleven elderly people in Tokyo receiving welfare assistance had appealed against the lower court ruling, demanding that the additional benefit system be resumed because its abolition violates Article 25 of the Constitution which guarantees "all persons the right to maintain the minimum standards of wholesome and cultured living."

It was the first high court decision reached among similar lawsuits filed by the elderly at four district courts and three high courts across Japan.

Welfare assistance recipients aged 70 and over used to receive the additional benefits. The former government in 2006 decided to stop this additional payment.

Later on the same day at a news conference, plaintiff Yokoi Kunio, 81, said, "Although the Hatoyama government restored the additional payment of welfare benefits to single-mother families living on welfare assistance, it made no mention of the same system for the elderly. The government policy is inconsistent. Isn't it the government's task to protect the level of people's living conditions?"

- Akahata, May 28, 2010