Kitakyushu to Revoke Designation of Disability Support Facility Over Fraudulent Benefit Claims

Extract from The Yomiuri Shimbun

March 1 2026

FUKUOKA – Kitakyushu City announced on February 27 that it will revoke the designation of a Type B continuous employment support facility for persons with disabilities in Yahatanishi Ward, after determining that the operating company (based in Nakama City, Fukuoka Prefecture) fraudulently claimed self-reliance support benefit payments. The administrative action, taken under the Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities Act, will take effect on March 31.

According to the city’s Disability Support Division, the company falsely claimed between May and September last year that an instructor working to improve participants’ wages was employed full-time, and sought additional staffing payments from the city. In addition, from November 2024 to April 2025, the company inflated the number of service days for one user whose disability welfare services had been approved by another municipality, billing for more days than actually attended when the person had in fact only been present for two days.