It will definitely become easier for young people in Utrecht to apply for social assistance benefits, so that they remain more visible to the municipality during periods of unemployment. This is confirmed by a spokesperson on Tuesday after reporting by de Volkskrant. Last year, Utrecht – diametrically opposed to the Participation Act and the explicit wishes of The Hague – started a trial to make social assistance more accessible to young people. That is now policy.
Under the Participation Act, young people under the age of 27 are only entitled to benefits after they have independently searched for work or training for a month. In addition, they may not have any additional income if they subsequently receive a benefit. The underlying idea is that young people with excellent job potential do not end up on social assistance at a young age due to these hurdles. However, according to the Labor Inspectorate, that month is a risky period, in which many vulnerable young people disappear from the radar of the municipalities or fall into debt. At the end of 2021, the Utrecht alderman Linda Voortman (Work and Income, GroenLinks) said to NRC: “Young people who apply for social assistance benefits are often vulnerable due to problems in several areas, such as housing, finances or mental health.”
Paint the Participation Act
Utrecht therefore started a trial in 2022 in which young people are directly entitled to social assistance benefits and are allowed to do additional jobs while they receive them. According to the municipality, the trial proved to be a success. It was feared that the flexible scheme would attract vulnerable young people and that they would apply for benefits in large numbers. Those fears have not materialized, he said.
But the strict treatment of young people is laid down in the Participation Act. So Utrecht doesn’t care twice about that; first by announcing the trial and now again by turning it into policy. In 2022, Utrecht’s disobedience led to a furious reaction from The Hague. Outgoing State Secretary Dennis Wiersma (Social Affairs and Employment, VVD) said at the time that it was “unacceptable” for young people to earn in addition to their social assistance, because this would be unfair to young people working on a regular basis.
Since 2015, municipalities have been responsible for benefits under the controversial Participation Act, but they are only allowed to make their own policy in The Hague to a limited extent. There is a lot of dissatisfaction about this, partly because of the strict youth regulation. In addition to Utrecht, other municipalities are also deliberately in violation. For example, Amsterdam allows young people to work in addition to social assistance and the benefits of young people who live together in Tilburg are not cut.
Hague wind turned
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But also in a broader sense, the Participation Act is the bitten dog. The idea was to help people entitled to social assistance and the disabled to find ‘regular’ jobs by encouraging work, but also by reducing opportunities for people with a distance to the labor market. Reality is unruly, as the initiator PvdA saw at the end of 2020. In an interview with NRC PvdA Member of Parliament Gijs van Dijk analyzed the ‘failure’ of the Participation Act: ‘The image of humanity behind it is wrong: that it is your own responsibility if you have no work. And if you don’t do anything about it, the government will put pressure on you. Then you have to provide something in return for your assistance and meet all kinds of obligations. But experiments show that you get people to work much faster if you start from trust, and offer guidance instead of repression.”
Since State Secretary Wiersma of Social Affairs booed Utrecht for his mutiny, the wind in The Hague has turned 180 degrees. Minister Carola Schouten (Poverty Policy, ChristenUnie) wants to reform the Participation Act and the revolt of the municipality of Utrecht offers “important input” for this purpose. The bill should be ready this summer.