News item | 10-10-2023 | 14:11
The Senate today approved the Abolition of Guilty Negligent bill by Minister Carola Schouten for Poverty Policy, Participation and Pensions. As a result, people who have not fully met their contribution obligations in the past will no longer receive a lower AOW benefit for life. It remains mandatory to pay the premium and the Tax Authorities can impose a fine if someone does not pay, but the discount on the AOW will lapse. This change in law simplifies the implementation of the AOW for the Social Insurance Bank (SVB) and for the Tax Authorities.
The approximately 15,000 people who have been declared guilty of negligence and now receive a lower AOW benefit will no longer be cut after the introduction and will then receive a higher AOW benefit. They don’t have to do anything for that. The SVB itself adjusts the amount of the AOW benefit. The introduction of this law will take approximately three months. The SVB informs those involved about their higher AOW benefit.
Minister Schouten: “This is an important step in simplifying the social system and focusing more on the human scale. The Social Insurance Bank has often drawn attention to this. The additional sanction of cutting the state pension was complicated to implement and often turned out to be unfair. People who were behind on their premiums due to various problems had their premiums cut for the rest of their lives. With this bill we restore that balance.”