Protest Statement Issued by Japan National Intellectual Disability Organization Over Sharp Increase in Disability Pension Denials

From Kyodo via Yahoo! Japan

May 2 2025

TOKYO – In response to a Kyodo News report that the number of people being denied Japan’s national disability pension has surged in fiscal 2024, the National Federation of Associations for the Support of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (Zenkoku Te o Tsunagu Ikuseikai Rengōkai), which consists of individuals with intellectual disabilities and their families, issued a protest statement by May 2, saying, “If the report is true, it cannot be overlooked.”

The organization is demanding that the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare verify the facts and publicly disclose the results.

The Kyoto Shimbun reported that the number of people who applied for national disability pensions paid to people with disabilities and were judged to be denied in fiscal 2024 has more than doubled from fiscal 2023 to about 30,000, according to an internal document from the Japan Pension Service.

This means that about one in six people who applied to the service were denied, and both the number and percentage of people who were denied are expected to be the highest since fiscal 2019, when statistics were collected.

The federation also referenced the report’s claim that a change in leadership at the relevant department of the Japan Pension Service may have contributed to the increase in denials, and that staff may have been guiding decisions in a way that led to more rejections. The group stated that, if true, such actions would be unacceptable.