Mistakes have been made in calculating disability benefits, possibly by tens of thousands of people. This was reported by Minister Eddy van Hijum and confirmed by the UWV. Correcting these mistakes could take a long time, thinks WIA expert Jim Faas.
Insurance physician and lawyer Jim Faas has been fighting for years for people with a difficult to diagnose illness such as ME and longcovid. From his practice he knows the harrowing examples and he knows what an incorrect judgment by the UWV can lead to. “The quality policy is not guaranteed. Everyone has known that for several years.”
Preference for eliminating backlogs
That something is wrong at the benefits agency was already known, but now the UWV itself admits it. The agency writes that the quality of the assessments of disabled people (WIA) is below standard, but indicates that the organization preferred to eliminate backlogs.
As a result, the benefit amount and duration may have been incorrectly determined for tens of thousands of applicants, which ‘affects people’s livelihoods’, as Minister Van Hijum writes in his letter to the House of Representatives.
Let attention for quality blow
Faas also sees that the quality of the inspections has faded into the background. “The focus was more on production.” Understandable, he says, because the UWV has a lot of work to do. “And the backlogs are very difficult to manage. But if you then gradually let the attention for quality blow over, then a big problem arises. And that is the issue now.”
The enormous consequences are also evident from the many stories that came to our editors. People had to sell their homes, were physically and mentally destroyed and sometimes families fell apart. A thousand people shared their stories and experiences with the agency. They often felt unheard and abandoned by the UWV.
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Taskforce and telephone number for victims
Now a task force will be set up to investigate the errors and people can call the UWV. The UWV will try to correct the errors. What that will look like exactly is not yet entirely clear.
The UWV initially promised that no money would be reclaimed if they had received too much, but the minister said today that it is not yet clear what will happen to overpaid benefit money.
Not enough urgency
He sees that the UWV’s acknowledgement of the mistakes is not being received wholeheartedly. “What strikes me is that the UWV resists when an external investigation into the quality of the past is carried out and prefers to look only at the future. You have to learn from your mistakes.”
More than 400,000 currently have a WIA benefit. But Faas thinks that it could take a long time before these people get clarity. “I’m afraid that the sense of urgency is not sufficiently present.”
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New uncertainty
“What I don’t understand is that many of those internal investigations didn’t get past the concept stage. Probably because it didn’t work out well due to the bad results,” says Faas. “The organization is now saying that it’s all so painful for people, while it’s the press that should be addressing it.”
He calls the steps that are now being taken ‘a cautious progress’, but also states that it is taking a very long time for people. According to him, this also leads to extra uncertainty. “It is still difficult to check whether you are entitled to a higher or lower benefit. In fact, everyone is stressed now, because there is still a lot of uncertainty. And that stress does not help with reintegration either.”
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Investigation into errors in the assessments
The investigative editorial team of EenVandaag has repeatedly paid attention to the problems at the UWV, which cause errors in WIA assessments. This can in turn have consequences for the amount and duration of the benefit. A sample from the UWV benefits agency last year showed that half of the files examined contained errors or lacked substantiation. A recent study of files into disabled people with long-term covid showed that three quarters of the files contained errors.
Following this news, a thousand people reported their story via chat, email or the reporting centre. It is striking that two-thirds of the people who reported were women. Not only disabled people who have to deal with the WIA, but also Wajongers reported. They describe similar problems. In all cases, we asked the people we mention as examples for permission to use their story (anonymised).
If you haven’t shared your story yet and would like to, you can still do so via this link to our reporting center. All reports are read and treated confidentially.
Research into Long Covid not yet started
Faas himself has conducted research into the large number of errors in the assessment of long-covid patients by the UWV. This was to be followed up by reviewing 1,000 files before the end of the year, but to his disappointment this has not yet started. “I hope we can get started on this at the end of September. There is a need for a standard and guideline for the disease that doctors can adhere to.”
According to the lawyer and insurance physician, it is up to the cabinet to also come up with a structural adjustment of the system. “When it comes to calculating and implementing the WIA, it is clear that it is complex and that it needs to be simplified. It is up to politics to improve that now. The studies are all there already. Decisions need to be made.”
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Expert on recognition of errors by UWV
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