Due to a shortage of medical examiners at the UWV, dozens of people have run into financial problems. They must repay amounts of up to 15,000 euros to the benefits agency, writes The Telegraph.
The number of applications for disability benefit (WIA) is piling up at the UWV. Because there are too few doctors to examine people, it sometimes takes up to a year before the UWV decides on an application. There is a legal term of two months for this.
To bridge the waiting period, the UWV will pay out an advance. But if the benefit application is ultimately rejected, people will have to repay the amount.
Annoying surprise
Due to the long waiting period, the amount of advance payments for some people has risen to 15,000 euros. And those who assumed that the amount was paid out correctly could be in for a nasty surprise and in serious financial trouble if everything has to be repaid.
The National Client Council (LCR) of the UWV is sounding the alarm and has set up a hotline where dozens of complaints have already been received. “There really needs to be a solution for this,” says Peter van Leeuwen of the LCR in De Telegraaf. “It cannot be the case that a capacity problem at the UWV is passed on financially to citizens.”
On average 3000 euros
“My clients are close to despair,” says a reintegration coach in the newspaper. Some coaches advise people not to take an advance during the waiting period if they do not necessarily need the money, but there is a chance that the applicant will lose the right to WIA benefits.
Last year the UWV paid more than 11,000 advances of the WIA benefit. In the end, 1600 people had to repay that advance and the average amount was 3000 euros.
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