Ten Years of Japan's Hardship Support Scheme: 3.456 Million Enquiries, 26.6% Turned Into a Plan — and in FY2024 Enquiries Rose by 9,373 While Plans Fell by 3,790

New enquiries received3,455,905

cumulative over ten years

Support plans drawn up919,459

26.6% of enquiries

Referred for employment support460,865

50.1% of plans

Into work or higher earnings327,967

9.5% of enquiries

Government benchmarks against FY2024 outturn

New enquiries per 100,000 per month

Benchmark 27件/Outturn 20.2件

Plans drawn up

Benchmark 50% of enquiries/Outturn 29.6%

Referred for employment support

Benchmark 60% of plans/Outturn 45.9%

Into work or higher earnings

Benchmark 75%/Outturn 49%

In FY2024 new enquiries rose by 9,373 to 302,828 while plans drawn up fell by 3,790 to 89,492. The benchmarks shown are those set for FY2023–2025.

Ten years on from the April 2015 start of Japan's self-reliance support scheme for people in financial hardship, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has published the cumulative record.

New enquiries over the ten years came to 3,455,905[1]. Of those, 919,459 became support plans for continuing assistance[1], or 26.6%.

It narrows further downstream. 460,865 people were referred for employment support, 50.1% of plans; 226,498 moved into work and 101,469 saw higher earnings[1]. Together that is 327,967 people, 9.5% of the enquiries received over the decade.

Take FY2024 on its own and the movements do not line up. New enquiries reached 302,828, up 9,373 on the year, while plans drawn up fell by 3,790 to 89,492[2]. Referrals to employment support also fell, from 45,141 to 41,050[2].

More enquiries came in, and everything downstream shrank.

All four benchmarks are missed

The system carries national benchmarks, indicators tied to the reform schedule of the Economic and Fiscal Revitalisation Plan. For FY2023 to FY2025 they are set at 400,000 new consultations a year (27 per 100,000 population per month), plans for 50% of new consultations, employment support for 60% of plans, an employment-or-income-increase rate of 75%, and a step-up rate of 90%[3].

The record falls short at each stage. New consultations in FY2024 ran at 20.2 per 100,000 population per month[4], 74.8% of the benchmark of 27. Plans were made for 29.6%, against a benchmark of 50%. Employment support covered 45.9% of plans, against 60%. The employment-or-income-increase rate was 49%[4], two-thirds of the 75% benchmark.

Consultations, plans, employment support and the employment-or-income-increase rate all fall below their benchmarks. The remaining indicator, the step-up rate, carries a benchmark of 90%.

Consultations spiked 3.5-fold in FY2020

Across ten years the peaks and troughs are sharp. New consultations, at 226,411 in the first year of operation in FY2015, jumped to 786,163 in FY2020[5], about 3.5 times. That coincides with the widening of the housing security benefit. Figures then fell for four straight years, to 555,779 in FY2021, 353,095 in FY2022 and 293,455 in FY2023[5], before turning up again in FY2024.

The employment-or-income-increase rate follows the same shape. It fell from 71% in FY2016 to 27% in FY2020, recovered through 43% and 51%, then slipped back to 49% in FY2024[5].

55.2% of those who come are men, and the fifties are the largest age band

The composition of new consultations is published too. Men accounted for 55.2%, women 44.0% and unknown 0.8% (n=280,012)[4]. By age, the fifties were the largest band at 18.2%, followed by 70 and over at 17.8%, the forties at 14.0% and the sixties at 13.5%[4]. The twenties and thirties together come to 21.7%.

Half the consultations are about income and living costs

Subject matter is tallied with multiple responses allowed. Income and living costs accounted for 51.5%, looking for work and employment 22.5%, illness, health and disability 20.1%, rent or loan payments 19.6%, and housing 19.6%[4]. Having nothing to eat accounted for 6.9%, and social withdrawal or school refusal 3.6%[4].

By issue and characteristic, economic hardship led at 47.3%, followed by illness at 16.7%, difficulty finding work at 15.5% and other mental health issues at 14.2%[4]. People arrive over money, with illness and work sitting behind it.

Where the cases without a plan went

Over ten years, 3.456 million consultations produced 919,459 plans. Where the remaining 2.536 million went is set out in the same document.

Referrals to other systems or agencies came to about 692,000, and cases closed after consultation or information provision alone to about 1.263 million[5]. Together, about 1.955 million. Of the referrals, about 176,000 went to the public assistance counter[5].

These are estimates. The document notes that the shares were calculated from a survey using new evaluation indicators and estimated by the Self-Reliance Support Office, with figures from FY2020 onward extracted from the statistical system[5]. Of the 2.536 million cases without a plan, a breakdown is given for 1.955 million. The gap is about 580,000.

The largest referral destination is the public assistance counter

FY2024 referrals are given by count. Welfare offices handling public assistance led with 14,224, followed by social welfare council windows for welfare loans at 2,707, food banks and similar bodies at 2,483, community general support centres at 1,943 and public employment security offices at 1,476 (n=45,003, multiple responses)[4].

The system covers the stage before public assistance. That its consultation desks refer more people to the public assistance counter than anywhere else says something about what the system does. A scheme meant to catch people earlier is functioning as a sorting desk.

How to read a year when consultations rise and plans fall

In FY2024 consultations rose and plans fell. There are two readings.

One is that the content of consultations changed. If more cases resolve in a single session or end in a referral elsewhere, the number without a plan rises. The document records that 80% of those with a plan showed improvement toward self-reliance[4], so the quality of the plans that were made did not slip.

The other is that the field ran out of hands. Making a plan starts continuous support. When the volume of consultations rises, the number of plans cannot rise with it. On this reading, part of the increase consists of people who would have entered support had a plan been made.

With the year-by-year breakdown available only as an estimate, the published figures cannot separate the two.

The two services with measured effects are barely used

The optional services show a different shape.

Among users of the employment preparation support service, 35.8% stepped up on motivation for self-reliance, against 14.5% of non-users, 2.5 times the rate. Self-affirmation ran 27.5% against 14.0%, and social participation 38.0% against 18.9%[4]. For the household budget improvement service, self-affirmation ran 17.5% against 13.8%[4].

The effect shows in the numbers. The scale does not. The employment preparation support service runs in 753 municipalities, an implementation rate of 83%, with 5,435 uses in FY2024[5]. The household budget improvement service runs in 787 municipalities at 87%, with 20,573 uses[5]. Against the 89,492 plans made in FY2024, that is 6.1% and 23.0% respectively.

Municipal coverage rose over the decade. The employment preparation support service went from 27% in FY2015 to 83%, and the household budget improvement service from 22% to 87%[5]. More municipalities run them; no more people use them. The distance between a service existing and a service being used is the shape covered in the shared structure of programmes that fail to reach people（このサイトの記事）.

What the 49% is divided by

The construction of the indicator matters. The 49% for FY2024 is the 20,148 people with plans targeted for employment support who found work or increased their income, divided by the 41,050 people targeted for employment support[4]. On employment alone the figure is 36%[4].

The denominator is those targeted for employment support, not the 89,492 with plans. Measured against 302,828 consultations, the indicator covers 13.6% of the intake. Where the denominator sits changes how the same system looks.

Change is showing up outside employment as well

The changes recorded among those with plans extend past work. Improved motivation for self-reliance came to 20.9%, secure housing to 20.5%, starting continuous regular employment to 18.4%, mental stability to 14.8%, improved household finances to 12.3%, reduced isolation to 11.3% and receipt of public assistance to 10.8% (n=61,693, multiple responses)[4]. No change during the period came to 19.9%[4], meaning roughly 80% showed some change.

The step-up figures run the same way. Motivation for self-reliance rose for 15.2%, self-affirmation for 14.4% and social participation for 19.5%; 32.2% rose on at least one of the three and 10.5% on all three[4].

At the first interview, 2.9% said they rejected themselves and could not accept who they were, and 16.8% said they often spoke of themselves negatively and felt recognised only by a limited circle of family and supporters[4]. About a fifth between them. 3.3% had no contact with society or family and could not readily leave the house[4].

These are the people standing one step short of employment. A single figure for employment and income increase does not show them.

What to measure over the next ten years

The five national benchmarks cover consultations, plans, employment support, employment or income increase, and step-up. Four of the five track a path toward work; only the step-up rate looks at change in a person's state. Because the axis of measurement leans toward employment, results on housing and household finances are slow to appear in the figures.

The 20% take-up rate covered in the take-up rate for public assistance（このサイトの記事） concerned the entrance. This system covers the stage before public assistance, so the two run in sequence. Anyone who reaches a consultation has reached the system. The narrowing happens afterwards. Take-up at the entrance and progression once inside need to be measured as separate problems.

A system that took 3.456 million consultations over ten years now has to set targets for the next ten. Whether 49% against a 75% benchmark reads as a target missed or a target badly set depends on how much of the change outside employment gets turned into figures.

Further Reading

• Seikatsu Hogo Kaitai Ron (Dismantling Public Assistance: Reweaving the Safety Net)（外部サイト、新しいタブで開きます） by Masami Iwata (Iwanami Shoten). Argues for splitting public assistance by function and rebuilding it rather than treating it as a single scheme. Useful for placing what this system covers within the safety net as a whole.

References

Survey of Support Provided under the Act on Self-Reliance Support for the Needy: Aggregate Results (April 2015 to March 2025) — Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Self-Reliance Support Office (2025). Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

FY2024 Support Status under the Act on Self-Reliance Support for the Needy: Aggregate Table (April to March) — Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Self-Reliance Support Office (2025). Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

Results of the Survey of Support Provided under the Act on Self-Reliance Support for the Needy — Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (2026). Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare