News item | 26-08-2022 | 17:45
The waiting lists at UWV for social-medical assessments are increasing rapidly. As a result, people who may be incapacitated for work and wait for an assessment find themselves in uncertainty about their income for an unacceptably long time. There are also concerns about hardnesses in the WIA system. Minister Van Gennip of Social Affairs and Employment is therefore taking a number of measures this autumn that should significantly shorten waiting lists and combat hardships. She is also investigating which measures are still necessary for the medium term. At the same time, it appoints a committee that advises on a future-proof system. The Council of Ministers has approved this letter to the House of Representatives.
Employees in the Netherlands can count on a safety net if they are (temporarily) unable to work due to illness. This system is under pressure. The biggest bottleneck is the high demand for socio-medical assessments by insurance doctors at UWV. UWV cannot comply with this. This is partly because the influx into the WIA is higher and because UWV has arrears due to, among other things, the lockdowns. In addition, despite the efforts of UWV, there have been too few insurance doctors for some time. At the moment, people have to wait an average of 18 weeks for an initial assessment. Legally, this is eight weeks. This is unacceptably long. Although people keep an income during the waiting period, it creates a lot of uncertainty. In addition, employers do not know where they stand if an employee is sick.
With the same approach and with current legislation and regulations, the demand for socio-medical assessments will exceed the supply by 33 percent at this rate by 2030. Minister Van Gennip is therefore taking a number of temporary measures in the short term that will shorten the waiting time. For example, UWV may temporarily offer a simplified WIA assessment to people over 60, which does not always require the involvement of an insurance doctor. This is only allowed with the consent of the employer and employee. Afterwards, they can still ask for a regular assessment and in principle no one should be disadvantaged by this.
The Minister also wants to allow the UWV not to carry out a reassessment for a period of five years of people in the IVA and in the Wajong, who have been declared permanently unfit for work and who, despite their limitations, manage to get paid work. In addition to these temporary measures, which fall outside current legislation, UWV will take a series of measures in the short term to work more efficiently. However, the minister expects that the announced temporary measures will not yet be sufficient. Further measures for the medium term will therefore be elaborated in the coming period, with different legislation and regulations.
In addition to reducing waiting lists, the government has the ambition to improve the system. Measures will be taken in the short term to remove hardships where possible within the current law, for example by offering certain groups better services and improving internal processes.
Not all ambitions to improve the system are feasible without looking fundamentally at the system. For example, it has been agreed in the coalition agreement that self-employed persons are also entitled to occupational disability insurance. This increases the demand for socio-medical assessments and is not feasible for UWV without additional measures.
That is why Minister Van Gennip will appoint a committee this autumn that will take a broad look at the system and will advise on an approach that will ensure that we also have a safety net in the future that is in line with current social wishes.