Because the UWV benefits agency is lagging behind in inspecting employees who are sick at home, thousands of people stay unnecessarily long on sickness benefits. That writes The Financial Times. According to Acture, a private executor of the sickness law, the inspections of sick employees have even been stopped since the beginning of this year. The UWV denies this.
The backlog is due to a shortage of doctors on the side of the benefits agency, a problem that has been known for some time. According to private executors of the Sickness Benefits Act, this backlog increases the costs for employers. Acture estimates that this involves tens of millions of euros. This is because employers or insurers must continue to pay benefits to employees, even if they are no longer ill in practice.
In a letter to the UWV, the Platform of Private Social Security Operators calls the situation distressing and urges rapid improvement, the newspaper writes.
Employees must undergo an assessment by the benefits agency before the end of their first year of illness. To this end, interviews are held with an occupational health expert and an insurance doctor, who check whether an employee is still correctly registered as sick.
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