The settlement of the allowance affair has come to a complete standstill, now that the number of parents who come forward is much larger than expected. If things continue like this, it could take another ten years before all victims can put this behind them. The counter now stands at 42,000 parents, with 500 to 1000 new cases added every week.
Money is not the problem, more than 4 billion euros has been released by the cabinet for this and next year, but the allowances department cannot handle all the manual work.
The difficult handling is mainly due to all non-specific measures, municipalities warn. The Catshuis scheme, in which all affected parents have been promised 30,000 euros in compensation, is a very general scheme that has led to more people signing up for it.
Employees of the benefits department that has to deal with all that damage are now mainly busy assessing files that fall under the Catshuis scheme. They can’t handle the work.
Stagnation due to new arrival
“We are concerned that we cannot help the people we have in view and who have been hit very hard by this,” says Rutger Groot Wassink on behalf of the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG). The Amsterdam alderman for Social Affairs says that municipalities are very concerned about the new regulations that are being devised by the cabinet, such as compensation for all ex-partners and children. “As a result, there will be an influx of people again, which further complicates implementation.”
According to the planning, 8300 parents can close the chapter by the end of this year, and their case will be settled by then. 19,000 parents have now received the 30,000 euros. Whether they are entitled to more will be assessed at a later date.
What is the allowance affair about? NOS op 3 summarizes it briefly:
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