Japan Press Weekly

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2016 May 18 - 24 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Cuts in state subsidies to community workshops for disabled in disaster-hit Kumamoto avoided

The Welfare Ministry on May 18 sent a notice to prefectural and municipal governments in quake-stricken Kumamoto Prefecture applying the state subsidy program to welfare service providers in these areas for their activities, such as counselling, to support the users. This has come to light in response to an inquiry by Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Horiuchi Terufumi.

Those providers operate workshop facilities where disabled persons engage in work tasks. Under the current subsidy program, the subsidy payment is made to workshop operators in accordance with the number of users’ work days.

Since Kumamoto was hit by a powerful earthquake on April 14, workshops’ regular operations have been suspended, which gives the facility operators a concern about the possibility of no subsidy payment for the latter half of April.

Most of the facilities are in financial difficulties. For these facilities, cuts in state subsidies mean cuts in workshop staff wages. Expressing concerns about the subsidy reduction, a group of facility operators has urged the central and local governments to deal with this matter in a flexible manner.

The Welfare Ministry in its notice said that the workshop operators can apply for the subsidy payment when they conduct activities to support their users, such as the confirmation of the users’ safety and the offering of counselling services.

Past related article:
> Community workshops for disabled in quake-hit Kumamoto face possible subsidy reductions [ May 13, 2016]