Overview
- The health ministry’s expert panel report on Nov. 17 kept a path to reapply the permissible ‘yugami’ comparative adjustment and also identified full retroactive payment to plaintiffs as one possible resolution.
- An emerging ministry plan would re-reduce living-assistance standards by comparing consumption with general low-income households, with estimated cuts of about 2.49% to 4.78%, while giving plaintiffs special top-ups to cover the illegal reduction in full.
- On Nov. 18, Liberal Democratic Party and Japan Innovation Party welfare divisions heard the plan without objections, and the government aims to finalize its approach within the week.
- The ministry told lawmakers that partial compensation tied to a 2.49% recalculation would require roughly ¥200 billion, providing an initial sense of fiscal impact.
- The government is preparing to include related payments in a supplementary budget, and leaders have issued apologies to plaintiffs as the ministry also considers a direct state apology and has asked municipalities for cooperation.