TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's cash-strapped government decided on Friday to
clamp down on child care benefits for single mothers, blaming a rising
divorce rate for a big rise in costs
The plan had been vigorously opposed by support groups for single mothers,
many of whom say they face a struggle for survival in one of the world's
most expensive countries.
"Child-care benefit is our lifeline," said Yumiko Ishida, head of a publicly
funded home that accommodates 20 single mothers and their children
"The level of benefit was already terribly low," she said
From August, eligibility for the maximum monthly benefit of 42,370 yen
($341) for a mother with one child will be restricted to families with
annual income below 1.3 million yen ($10,470)
The benefit was previously available to women with incomes of up to 2.048
million yen ($16,490)
The new system will also factor in child support paid by fathers, income
that was not previously included in calculations, and it will introduce a
sliding scale of benefits for women with incomes up to 3.65 million
"Many of the women here are victims of domestic violence and it can be
dangerous for them to try to claim child support from their children's
fathers," Ishida said" Even when they do succeed, many men stop paying after
a while."
Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare defended its plans, saying
costs had been at risk of rising out of control
The number of recipients of the single mothers' benefit rose to 710,000 last
year from 590,000 a decade earlier
The number of divorces annually has almost doubled since 1990, with 264,000
couples formally breaking up in 2000
The budget for the benefit hit 263.9 billion yen ($2.13 billion) last year
and will be held to just below that for the current year
"The number of recipients is rising, so if we hadn't introduced the plan,
the budget would have kept on expanding," said a ministry official
The official said the new system would not cut the number of recipients but
was fairer and should encourage independence
But Ishida said it was difficult for single mothers to find jobs, making it
impossible for them to achieve independence
"Many people do not understand how we manage to live. People often ask how a
family can survive on two million yen a year," the Single Mothers' Forum
said on its Web site.