Another distrust: lack of help to victims of the allowance affair

October 30, 2024 at 13:01 people

The benefits affair is already over for most people. Not for victims Leila and Astrid from Bilthoven. They would like to tell their story about how our municipality fails to provide broad support. They certainly do not experience that as the promised personal approach. “It feels like a repeat of how the government has dealt with us for years.”

Both Leila* (45) and Astrid* (46) had the nightmare started in 2006, until then, they thought they were living in a country that protects its citizens from injustice. But then came the message from the tax authorities. It said that they were fraudsters who had received too much childcare allowance. All surcharges were stopped and Leila and Astrid, like all victims, had to repay immeasurably large amounts. I don't have a dryer either, I got the answer

SURVIVAL MODE

Leila: “It really was hell. Of course, I couldn't afford that. I ended up in debt restructuring and lost my job. For a long time, I thought 'I must have done something wrong'. But that wasn't the case, luckily I know that now. In 2021, I was recognized as a victim. That was a relief but so much was already broken by then. My three children and I were deeply ashamed of the imposed poverty in which we lived. ' Astrid has also been in survival mode since 2006: “Because of all the repayments, I had to make ends meet on 40 euro a week with 2 children, which was usually spent on bills. I ended up in social assistance and was also cut back because I was in the system at the tax authorities as a fraud. I lived in a haze of disbelief and friends didn't understand either. Recognition as a victim should have been the start of the road up. But that wasn't it at all. '

LOTTERY

It already started with the 30,000 euros that they both received from the government as recognized victims. Leila: “That seems like an enormous amount, but it was largely spent on paying off my debts. With what was left over, I bought some much-needed new things for the home. After fifteen years of poverty, that really didn't look like it anymore. ' Astrid gave her children a vacation for the first time in ten years, but most of the money went to debts and straightening her income. So it was anything but the feeling of winning the lottery, as some saw it. At the same time, as recognized victims, they received a letter from the UHT (Implementation Organization for Recovery Benefits) that they were entitled to broad support from the municipality. Broad support is intended to help victims get their lives back on track with a personal plan of action. Leila reported to the municipality for this but was expelled. 'I was told I was the first to report, but the municipality had not set up anything and they couldn't do anything for me. ' This also applied to Astrid. It was a slap in the face. Until 3 years later, Leila accidentally spoke to an employee of the MENS Social Team and talked about her situation. She was going to take this up from MENS, she said, because victims are entitled to that broad support. “We're going to make sure this is a nice trip for you.” She said that literally, Astrid remembers.

NOT A HAPPY TRIP

Leila and Astrid got a bit of hope again. Finally, they were seen and received serious help. The purpose of the broad support is that the parent, together with, in our municipality, someone from MENS, writes a personal plan of action for this. But in practice, it turned out that they had to fight for every thing that cost money. Leila: “It wasn't a pleasant trip at all. They treated us like profiteers from the outset. That's not me and I never was. For example, I asked if I could buy a dryer because I need it. I now have to turn on the heating to dry the laundry. 'I don't have a dryer either' I got in response from the MENS employee. That hurt me so much! He has no children, likes to compare his situation with mine and thus decides that I'm going for excessive luxury. Why a personal approach? ' It went the same way with Astrid. Where Leila gave up after a while because she couldn't bear to run into another wall of mistrust and misunderstanding, Astrid fought: 'I'm fighting for that promised generous and respectful broad support. '

ALLOWANCE AFFAIR 2.0

Both are deeply disappointed with how the municipality deals with them. Astrid: “We know that the municipality receives money from the government to carry out the broad support, so they don't have to deal with us like that. We just don't understand it. ' Leila: “Broad support is precisely about looking at what someone needs. This includes the fact that MENS employees take each victim seriously in their own plan of action. As it stands, it is a repetition of distrust. It feels like a kind of Allowance Affair 2.0. ' (*Leila and Astrid are fictitious names)

RESPONSE FROM THE MUNICIPALITY

As a municipality, we have the task of helping those affected by the allowance affair get their lives back on track through broad support. MENS does this on behalf of the municipality. They try to make a good, generous but also reasonable provision. That is not easy, because sometimes there is a difference between expectation and outcome. After all, it remains a tailor-made solution. In doing so, we are based on the guidelines and frameworks of the Association of Dutch Municipalities and the National Government. In addition, we are now looking at the average price of products and services plus 30%. This gives us the space to be efficient but also generous. In recent years, the process of allowance support has sometimes been messy for people who needed us. We recognize that. The result is that we were not always able to offer enough. A lot of work has been done to improve this. We do our best to help everyone financially in an appropriate way. And fortunately, that often goes very well. Sometimes people are dissatisfied. That is annoying, and there is also a complaints procedure to see if mistakes have been made. We cannot discuss the specific situation of Leila and Astrid in terms of content here. Nor would it make the situation better if we covered this via the newspaper. We've invited both of us to talk to us.