Penalty payments in the benefits affair are too much for the cabinet: bill rises to more than 150 million euros

By Leon Brandsema and Niels Rigter

Mar 12, 2025 in Financial

The Hague - The cabinet is trying to accelerate the stalled handling of the benefits affair. However, it is not possible to remove one of the biggest obstacles: the penalty payments that the state must pay if it is late in deciding — almost always. This year's bill rises to 50 million euros, on top of the more than 100 million euros already allocated in recent years.

The costs of dealing with the benefits affair are rising rapidly: the cabinet paid more than 150 million euros in penalty payments alone.

This Friday, the cabinet is expected to come up with a plan to smooth out the stalled recovery operation. This is necessary: at the current rate, it could take up to twenty years before all affected parents are compensated, the Van Dam Commission concluded two months ago.

Penalty payments in the event of an allowance affair cause delays

There is a maze of regulations, parents have to wait months or years for their damage to be determined and when their file is decided, they object en masse. For example, they believe that they were wrongly not described as victims or find the estimated amount of their (additional) damage too low.

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At the end of last year, 15,000 objections were already filed, of which only a third have been dealt with. In particular, the practice of penalty payments in case of late decisions causes delays, Van Dam underlined.

Implementing Organization Recovery Allowances

The Implementation Organization for the Recovery of Allowances (UHT) must actually decide on an objection within twelve weeks, but due to a lack of staff and congestion in the files, this rarely works. Parents can then declare the UHT in default, which had already happened 44,000 times at the end of December.

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Compensation for victims of the benefits scandal stalls and threatens to last another twenty years: 'Unenforceable tangle'

If there is no decision after two weeks, the objector will receive amounts of 23 to 100 euros per day. Ultimately, imposing a penalty payment can result in 15,000 euros, even for those who ultimately do not appear to be victims.

'Penalty payments have become a business model'

According to Van Dam, the penalty payments have become “a business model” that does not accelerate but delay the recovery operation. In total, the government has already lost around 50 million euros on the penalty payments for 2025 alone, the total bill exceeds 150 million euros. The cabinet should abolish the penalty payments, Van Dam advised.

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Only: that doesn't work. At least: not without changing the law. A change in the law takes time and does not apply to the 15,000 current cases.

Princess Laurentien

So even though fewer victims object these days, the 'traffic' of old cases leaves the UHT at a loss. Lawyers for affected parents say they must impose those penalty payments, otherwise those files will be at the bottom of the pile at the bottom of the pile.

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Princess Laurentien tells her story for the first time after a fuss about the benefits affair: 'Scream, freak out, I've seen great emotions'

In another area, the cabinet will simplify the recovery operation. In principle, there are two ways of dealing with additional damage, one of which is Princess Laurentien's Equal Recovery Foundation.

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Top Finance official 'had to puke' about Princess Laurentien's tips on compensation for the benefits affair