News item | 06-10-2023 | 18:13
Preventing and resolving problematic debts becomes more important when the government collects arrears and debts. For example, there will be an easy online overview of all outstanding claims with the central government and additional safeguards will be introduced to ensure that people do not fall below the subsistence minimum when entering into payment arrangements.
This is what Minister Carola Schouten (Poverty Policy, Participation and Pensions) writes to the House of Representatives in the update of the National Collection Vision 2016.
The adjustments are made in response to the request of Member of Parliament Kat (D66) to update the National Collection Vision 2016. This vision includes plans to have government agencies work more together in collecting debts. Minister Schouten writes that it is necessary to accelerate and broaden the implementation of the National Collection Vision 2016. This is necessary to achieve the government’s target of halving the number of households with problematic debts by 2030.
Minister Schouten: “Too often in government, the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. People who have debts to various government agencies can therefore find themselves in serious trouble. And that debt problem often leads to all kinds of problems, from poverty to psychological problems or loneliness. That is why I want more attention to be paid to the specific situation of people in debt. And that people have to deal with one government as much as possible.”
To achieve this, the National Payment Scheme was launched in 2022: one joint payment scheme for all outstanding claims with government organizations. One of the goals is also to ensure that amounts do not increase if people cannot pay their claims to the government. Such as in the case of fines or interest. In addition, it is being examined whether a so-called debt pause button can be pressed in situations where people really cannot pay their debts. This way, someone with debts gets some rest and help to sort everything out, after which the repayment process can be started again.
Furthermore, the aim is to improve services. There will be an online overview where people can easily see for themselves what they still owe to the government. Communication from government agencies to people with debts is also becoming clearer. In addition, an important ambition is to ensure that people who enter into payment arrangements do not fall below the subsistence minimum.
Minister Schouten writes on behalf of the ministries involved that the plans are ambitious, but necessary. The minister provides information about the progress of the plans through the progress reports of the Money Worries, Poverty and Debt approach.