Ibaraki Prefecture Announces Revocation of Welfare Facility’s License Over 7 Million Yen Fraudulent Benefit Claims

From Ibaraki News

May 16 2026

IBARAKI – On May 15, Ibaraki Prefecture announced that, in accordance with the Act on Providing Comprehensive Support for the Daily Life and Life in Society of Persons with Disabilities, it will revoke the designation of “I-Tier” (located in Minami-Nakajima-machi, Ryugasaki City; President Kazuki Takada) effective June 1. The company operates “Alice,” a Type B Employment Continuation Support facility.

The fraudulent claims amounted to approximately 7 million yen in total, disbursed across 17 municipalities in four prefectures: Ibaraki, Chiba, Saitama, and Tokyo. The respective local governments will demand the return of approximately 9.8 million yen, which includes surcharge penalties.

According to the prefecture’s Disability Welfare Division, between July 2023 and October 2024, the company padded the service logs of 25 users by a total of 183 days, fraudulently receiving approximately 1.42 million yen from 16 municipalities. Furthermore, from July 2023 to May 2024, the company falsely claimed that a part-time service management coordinator was working full-time, fraudulently obtaining 5.57 million yen from 15 municipalities. The facility was also found to be in violation of staffing standards for failing to deploy a full-time coordinator, and had submitted falsified attendance records.

This marks the fifth time since July 2025 that the prefecture has revoked a facility’s designation due to fraudulent benefit claims and document forgery.

During a prefectural hearing, the company explained that after accidentally overcharging for benefits initially, they “proactively and repeatedly made fraudulent claims.” Alice is scheduled to be transferred to a different operator on June 1. In an interview with the Ibaraki Shimbun, President Takada stated, “We are arranging things so that current users can remain at the facility. We deeply apologize for the trouble we have caused.”

Isamu Hagiwara, the Mayor of Ryugasaki City, released a statement saying, “This is absolutely unacceptable. The city will demand the full return of the funds we paid out.”