The Council of State has adhered to the strict line in rulings on childcare allowance for too long. This is the conclusion of the highest administrative court in an investigation into its own role in the allowance affair. The parents get an apology.
In the reflection report of the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State (RvS), the childcare allowance affair is called a ‘many-headed monster’. ‘Monstrous’, because parents got into trouble because of government actions, ‘many-headed’, because the affair was caused by an accumulation of actions and omissions. Together they have contributed to ‘a black page in the history of our constitutional state’, the report states.
Refund full surcharge
Until October 2019, the RvS stuck to the all-or-nothing line: even in the case of very minor violations, the parents had to repay the entire childcare allowance to the Tax Authorities. Tens of thousands of people have suffered major financial and psychological problems as a result. Sometimes relationships broke down or children were removed from home.
At the beginning of October, the Council for the Judiciary, the professional group of judges, also took matters into their own hands: the judiciary did not always offer parents the protection they deserved. The judges also apologized to the victims.
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Unprecedented Injustice
The scandal surrounding the childcare allowance has been investigated by a parliamentary questioning committee. Its chairman was Chris van Dam. When his report Unprecedented Injustice was presented in December last year, the then CDA MP said that “the basic principles of the rule of law have been violated”.
The government, judges and the legislature (cabinet and parliament) have left parents out in the cold for years, the committee concluded. Van Dam thought that they should ask themselves how this could have happened. The cabinet responded in January by stepping down.
‘Can parliament learn anything from it’
“We have called on the judiciary to look in the mirror. And that is what the Council of State has now done. Compliments that they have done so and the apologies they offer seem very justified to me,” says Van Dam. “Parliament can learn something from that, they have not yet looked in the mirror.”
But Van Dam also finds the report somewhat superficial. “It has been noted that the Council of State has been too harsh, but I have not yet discovered why it was, why they acted in this way. That is different with the judges who looked in the mirror, the report states. really personal stories from judges. But I need to read this new report even more this weekend.”
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Have you looked deeply enough in the mirror?
Van Dam thinks that this new report will certainly yield something. “Not only at the Council of State, but also in the legal world. There is a different view and discussion since Unknown Injustice. A lot is in motion. And this report by the Council of State is part of that.”
“It’s not the end yet, but again, I have deep respect for how they looked in the mirror. I don’t know if they looked deep enough, but at least they looked into it.”
Change
Some parents of the allowance affair are still in trouble and still waiting for compensation. This report does not immediately change that. “You cannot immediately expect that from the judiciary,” says Van Dam.
“That is up to the State Secretary. But make no mistake about what this report means for current affairs. There are examples of the strict view that existed, but that has changed. So that is really important.
Chris van Dam in EenVandaag on NPO Radio 1
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