Operator of Oita day-care facilities for disabled children received 34 million Yen in fraudulent payments

Extract from NHK

March 10 2023

OITA – A company operating day care facilities for children with disabilities in nine locations in the prefecture, including Beppu City, was found to have fraudulently received approximately 34 million yen in benefits by padding the number of staff, and Oita Prefecture has decided to cancel the designation of the facilities.

The designation will be revoked for a total of nine facilities in Beppu City, Kunitachi City and Hijimachi, which are operated by Sosho-no-Sato.

These facilities provide various types of support, including after-school day services for children with disabilities.

According to the prefecture, an on-site inspection revealed that between September and November last year, the company operating the facilities had fraudulently claimed and received approximately 34 million yen in benefits by inflating the number of child guidance staff and pretending to have specialist staff who were not assigned to the facilities.

In response to this, the prefecture has decided to cancel the designation of nine facilities as day-care support facilities for children with disabilities on 30 June and notified the operating companies.

According to the legal adviser of the management company, there were approximately 200 children using the nine facilities, and the cities and towns where the facilities are located will be making adjustments to the places that will accept them.

The legal counsel for Sosho-no-Sato admitted the fraud in an interview and said: ‘The management took the initiative over the past five years to improve the treatment of the staff. We deeply apologise to the users of the facility, their families and everyone else.”