Kagoshima City Ordered to Repay 35 Million Yen, Disability Welfare Designation Revoked

From Minami Nippon Shimbun

September 26 2025

KAGOSHIMA – On the 26th, Kagoshima City took administrative action to revoke the disability welfare service designation of the “Employment Support Center Shichifukujin” (Takashi 2-chome), a Type B Continuing Employment Support Facility operated by the Social Welfare Corporation Tenyukai (Director: Yurika Nagata) in Murasakihara 5-chome, for fraudulently claiming training and other benefits. The city also ordered the repayment of 25,176,250 yen fraudulently claimed and received, plus additional payments totaling 35,240,631 yen. The revocation of the designation will take effect on the 30th.

According to the city’s Disability Welfare Division, the fraudulent claims were discovered during a special city audit in June of this year. Over a five-year period from April 2020 to March 2025, the organization fraudulently claimed various additional fees, including benefits, meals, and transportation, for eight users, even though they did not receive employment support services. The number of claims totaled approximately 3,000.

The city determined that the offense was highly malicious and imposed the most severe penalty of revoking the organization’s designation, adding 40% to the amount of repayment. As a result of the revocation of the designation, the organization and its executives will not be designated as a disability welfare service provider for the next five years.

According to the city, 38 people used the center. The organization will confirm the wishes of each user and responsibly find a successor. Chairman Nagata commented, “We sincerely apologize for the great inconvenience caused to the users and their families. We will use this incident as a lesson and work to prevent it from happening again.”