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Reheating carts and tea dispensers for nursing homes are now eligible for subsidies. What to check by May 15th.

キクロー|介護ニュース解説

A morning where you stop in your tracks, thinking, "Is this a subsidy we can get too?"

"Is this another subsidy we can get?"—The facility director stops in their tracks after opening MHLW Notification Vol. 1499, handed to them by a consultant after the morning assembly.

The text of the notification states that beverage dispensers, thickener tea dispensers, and reheating cabinets/carts have been added to the list of eligible equipment for the "Small and Medium Enterprise Labor-Saving Investment Subsidy." We are used to the 3/4 subsidy for the Nursing Care Technology Introduction Support Project. But is this 1/2 subsidy a replacement for the nursing-care-specific quota, or is it an addition? There are still few facility directors who can answer that immediately.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare issued this notification on April 30, 2026. It was issued by the Elderly Support Division of the Health and Welfare Bureau for the Elderly. However, the scheme itself is a cross-industry subsidy led by the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, and both the operation and application window are handled by the Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation (SME Support JAPAN). The MHLW is merely acting as a conduit for information.

This is not the end of the nursing-care-specific quota. It is the moment when labor-saving subsidies have switched from a "one-legged" approach to a "two-sword" style.

Is a 1/2 subsidy rate "cheaper" than 3/4? — The division of roles between two parallel frameworks

Let's start by coldly laying out the two parallel frameworks.

Nursing Care Technology Introduction Support Project (Nursing-care-specific quota): 3/4 subsidy rate (when requirements are met) or 1/2 (otherwise), focusing deeply on equipment unique to nursing care settings such as monitoring devices and nursing care recording software.
Small and Medium Enterprise Labor-Saving Investment Subsidy (Cross-industry quota, expanded this time): 1/2 subsidy rate or less, widely covering general-purpose equipment across industries such as reheating carts, meal delivery robots, and beverage dispensers.

A 1/2 subsidy rate is not "cheaper" than 3/4. It is a design of role division where general-purpose equipment is widely covered across industries, while equipment unique to nursing care settings is covered deeply under the nursing-care-specific quota (the design intent is a guess).

Each facility must decide which sword to draw based on the equipment they want to install. If you want to streamline meal service operations with reheating carts, this SME Support JAPAN scheme is the realistic solution. For equipment unique to nursing care settings like monitoring bed sensors or nursing care recording software, aim for the 3/4 nursing-care-specific quota.

When the division of roles becomes clear, the facility director's burden suddenly feels lighter.

For a special nursing home with a capacity of 80, 3.4 million yen is saved — A model calculation read in 3 layers

Let's bring this down to the reality of a facility. We assume a medium-sized special nursing home for the elderly (capacity of 80, 60 staff, operated by a social welfare corporation).

Assumed equipment: 2 reheating carts (6 million yen total) + 1 beverage dispenser (800,000 yen), total 6.8 million yen (assuming equipment unit prices are based on the SME Support JAPAN catalog; this is an estimate).

Applying the 1/2 subsidy rate, the subsidy is 3.4 million yen. Since this is within the 10 million yen upper limit for facilities with 21 or more people, there is no upper limit restriction. The out-of-pocket expense is also 3.4 million yen.

First, let's read the meaning of 3.4 million yen using the yardstick of daily life. If we set a nursing care worker's monthly take-home pay at the low 200,000 yen range (this is an estimate/assumption based on the national average), 3.4 million yen is about 1 year and 4 months of personnel costs. The amount to hire one extra staff member for a year—when reinterpreted this way, the weight of the subsidy amount becomes clear to the administrative director.

Returning to the facility scale, an upgrade investment that would cost 6.8 million yen without a subsidy can be done for 3.4 million yen. The single-year cash outflow for equipment upgrades is halved.

3.4 million yen is an amount that could never have been obtained with the previous "one-legged" approach. Reheating carts are not on the menu for the nursing-care-specific quota. The opening that the two-sword style has created for the facility is deeper than it looks.

The 3 traps moving behind the "one sheet of A4 paper"

There must be many facility directors who are concerned about the hassle of applying.

This scheme is a simplified application process that only requires submitting a one-page business plan jointly with a sales vendor. Since the labor-saving effect is already verified at the catalog registration stage, the facility does not need to create an effect calculation report. The adoption rate for the 1st to 4th rounds has fluctuated between 61.0% and 69.3% (all-industry average; specific data for the nursing care industry has not been published).

However, being simple is one thing, and the facility being in the driver's seat is another.

First, it is easy for the sales vendor to take the lead. Since the partner for writing the joint business plan is the sales vendor, the discussion tends to start from the models the vendor wants to sell. Unless the facility works backward from its own operational workflow, equipment that cannot be fully utilized will remain on-site after installation.

Second, the category for 5 or fewer employees is actually being restricted. With the revision on March 19, 2026, the maximum subsidy for businesses with 5 or fewer employees was lowered from 5 million yen to 2 million yen. Although explanatory articles mentioning "increased subsidy rates" and "new establishments" are circulating, home-like independent day care centers and small-scale multi-functional facilities are being left behind by this revision.

Third, there is a trap in determining the scale of the corporation. For a social welfare corporation, it is 300 or fewer employees; for a stock company operating a paid nursing home, it is a capital of 50 million yen or less and 100 or fewer employees. Since the determination is made for the entire corporation, social welfare corporations operating multiple facilities may be excluded from eligibility based on the combined total.

The simpler the application, the more the facility's leadership is tested. Only facilities that can hold the reins can master this tool.

The "one-page inventory list" that the administrative director should act on by May 15th

The deadline for the 6th public offering is 17:00 on May 15, 2026. What you should act on is the inventory list of equipment related to meal provision.

There are three axes for the inventory. How many reheating carts are there and what year of their service life are they in? Is it time to update the beverage dispensers? Does the facility have the flow lines to install serving robots? Once listed on a single sheet, the administrative director should open the SME Agency catalog. By comparing the listed models with the inventory list, they can decide whether to apply in the 6th round or wait for the 7th round or later.

Calling the sales vendor comes after that. If you call the vendor first, the conversation will proceed based on the models they want to sell. It is better to solidify the operational workflow and inventory before reaching out, as this ensures more stable operations after utilizing the subsidy.

Creating that one-page list is, in itself, the first decision-making step in the era of dual-wielding.

Reference Links

📌 I will add updates as they become available. The publication of the 7th public offering guidelines is the next milestone.
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