News item | 02-06-2023 | 3:00 PM
Households that have been financially affected by conflicting regulations will temporarily receive financial aid through special assistance. With Prinsjesdag, the cabinet wants to clarify a definitive solution. In a progress letter sent today to the House of Representatives, the Ministries of Social Affairs and Employment (SZW) and Finance look ahead to the possible structural solution.
About 10,000 households have unintentionally run into problems because benefits and schemes clash. This concerns households in which one partner has a UWV benefit and the other partner has little or no income. Responsible ministers Schouten and Van Gennip (Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment) and State Secretaries Van Rij and De Vries (Finance) are working together with municipalities and implementing organizations on a structural solution for this undesirable concurrence of regulations.
However, arriving at a suitable solution is complex. For example, schemes have different objectives. Such as offering reliable income support, encouraging people to work according to their ability or a combination thereof. When adjusting one regulation, there is an immediate effect on another regulation. The ministers say that this balance must be carefully examined to prevent new problems from arising. With a great sense of urgency, a thorough exploration is now being carried out into possible solutions, including the consequences. The main focus of this exploration is that the possible solutions help people as specifically as possible and at the same time remain simple.
In the meantime, the households in question can request support from their municipality. Municipalities can then help them through special assistance. This has been agreed in close contact with VNG and municipalities. This demands a lot from the implementation of municipalities. The ministers are therefore grateful to the municipalities for this temporary support. This also implements a motion adopted by the House of Representatives calling for households to be prevented from having to go to court. The cabinet will make a decision on a structural solution in August. The House will be informed about this on Prinsjesdag.
Learning evaluation
The fact that this concurrence of schemes has led to problems for these households was never the intention behind the individual schemes. But, as said, the confluence has led to this. To learn from this problem, the government is having an evaluation carried out by an external agency. With the aim of preventing in the future, instead of curing. This evaluation will start this fall. The results will be shared as soon as possible.