“We have sunk through the bottom.” Reinier van Zutphen, the National Ombudsman, has seen it for some time. One of the foundations of a civilized society – that no one should be in need – is faltering. “The government is no longer able to give people the basics. What it takes to send your kids to school on a full stomach, pay your rent, the gas, the light.”
This problem is not new, he says. It was already happening before the prices started to rise so extremely fast. But it has now become worse and more visible. “We have had the idea for a long time: everything should be as minimal as possible. But that is no longer the case.”
This Monday, on World Poverty Day, the National Ombudsman publishes a report on people who have to make ends meet around the subsistence level: the unemployed on social assistance, people with disabilities who can only do a small part-time job, the elderly with an incomplete state pension, refugees who have just have residency status.
His hardest conclusion: the social minimum is too low. That is the minimum amount required by the government to live on. And that determines the amount of the social assistance benefit, which is now a net amount of 1,100 euros for a single person.
“If I look at what people now need to live on,” he says in his office in The Hague, “the conclusion is: that is too little. It’s that simple.” Now there are all kinds of allowances on top of that – for rent, health insurance and children. “But people are not sufficiently sure of that: maybe it will be reclaimed.”
scoop on top
His words contrast with the billion-dollar packages that the cabinet announced on Budget Day, especially to support low and middle incomes. A price ceiling for energy. A new energy allowance of 1,300 euros for the lowest incomes. And a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage and benefits such as the state pension and social assistance.
In addition, the cabinet has for the first time a minister for poverty policy: Deputy Prime Minister Carola Schouten (ChristenUnie). She has set herself the goal of halving the number of children growing up in poverty in four years.
Also read: Carola Schouten: I’m having it investigated whether the social minimum is high enough
So you could say: this topic is already a top priority for the government. “There are enormous ambitions,” says Van Zutphen. “But they have now also been throttled a bit in inflation and the energy crisis.” For example, prices will rise by about 10 percent this year, so that the increase in social assistance is in fact an inflation correction. “So my question now is: can we go even further?”
Municipalities are now spending far too much time, money and energy on income schemes to support the lowest incomes, says Van Zutphen. “And the control on that.” That is also why he believes that the national government should guarantee a higher, ‘living’ income. Municipalities can then use their ‘people, attention and money’ for, for example, the personal guidance of residents to work or to make their homes more sustainable.
Moreover, he says: “If you don’t take away people’s money worries, they can hardly think about: where will I work, what training will I do. Then they are only concerned with survival.”
Mistakes of the Seventies
How high should the social minimum be? Van Zutphen thinks that is a question for politicians. He does expect speed. Last summer, the cabinet outsourced this question to a committee of wise men. He will calculate what budget is needed to make ends meet, for different household types – and will be given a year to do so. Much to the Ombudsman’s dissatisfaction. “We already know a lot. It [budgetinstituut] Nibud has a lot of knowledge. Then we should be able to establish what the amount should be?”
At the same time, some economists warn that the government is already shifting too much money from rich to poor. Coen Teulings, former director of the Central Planning Bureau, warned last week that “mistakes of the 1970s” are repeated. His point: High benefits make it less rewarding to work.
“That could be a good thing,” says Van Zutphen. “But I look at the current situation and see people who do not have enough to live on. Then I don’t think this is an argument to say: you can’t get anything extra.” And yes, he says, the government will have to guide these people more actively than now into work or training.
The Ombudsman also believes that it is often not rewarding for people around the subsistence level to go to work. He mainly refers to “perversely operating systems”. “For example, people with disabilities often do not dare to participate in the labor market.”
Due to their disability, they are often only able to work part-time. They are also often dependent on uncertain flex contracts, sometimes with varying hours. This leads to uncertainty: how is the wage calculated against the benefit? Will fees be refunded? “Everyone wants these people to participate. You prevent that if they constantly have to think: if I go to work, what will happen?”
This uncertainty also leads to people refusing benefits and allowances, Van Zutphen hears. “People say: I don’t dare to ask the government anymore, because you don’t know if that will come back like a boomerang.”
That is precisely why, in Van Zutphen’s opinion, ‘the bottom has to be raised’. “What people need as a minimum, they should be guaranteed.”
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of October 17, 2022