The Hatoyama administration has decided to revive the once-abolished allowance for single-parent households on welfare with children aged 18 or younger. This is the first social welfare-related measure included in the Democratic Party of Japan's election manifesto to be implemented. The allowance began this month.
About 100,000 households are eligible for the allowance. About ¥20,000 a month is given for the first child and several thousand yen a month for each additional child. Some ¥7.7 billion is needed for the allowance in fiscal 2009.
The allowance had been reduced in phases by the previous administration of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, starting in fiscal 2005, and was abolished last April. In aiming to reduce expenditure on livelihood assistance, which was reaching some ¥3 trillion a year, the LDP and Komeito took into account the fact that the standard income of single-parent households on welfare and receiving the allowance topped the average consumer spending of single-parent households not on welfare.