Municipal consequences of Princess Laurentien's receipt with the ministry over the benefits affair
Municipal consequences of Princess Laurentien's receipt with the ministry over the benefits affair
By Niels RIGTER
4 minutes ago on FINANCIAL
The outgoing cabinet must quickly make a comparison with Princess Laurentien about compensation for victims of the benefits affair. That's what Dordrecht alderman Peter Heijkoop says. If frustrated parents want to go to their municipality for help, which can't do it all either.
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“The current escalation has only losers,” says Heijkoop, reliable for the Association of Dutch Municipalities about the “broad support” that municipalities should offer to affected benefit parents. The alderman helps to get the public receipt between the Ministry of Finance and Princess Laurentien's Equal Recovery Foundation.
'Very happy with the Laurentian method'
As one of the few routes for establishing and dealing with additional damage, the foundation has the potential to “process” large groups of parents and not let the processing get bogged down in simultaneous mistrust, bureaucracy and objections. “We are very happy with the Laurentien method,” says Heijkoop. “Parents feel heard.”
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Finances finds it difficult to follow the assessment of the damage, sees “overcompensation” and thinks the amounts paid out are too high, an average of 128,000 euros. The ministry does want to continue with the method, but with more control and lower damage amounts, which previously averaged 85,000 euros. The princess shocked .
“I'm calling on the cabinet and Laurentien to figure it out,” says Heijkoop. In addition, he wants the national approach to be more in line with what the municipalities do. They are expected to have countless parents and children in many areas, even if it is not certain how much they were affected by the benefits affair.
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Anyway, according to Heijkoop: the longer they wait in the government's queue for damage repairs, the sooner and angrier they go to the municipality.
'Six tickets to South Africa for one month's holiday'
The municipalities want to work for the most serious victims, says Heijkoop. “That's a big group, but certainly not the whole group.” Nearly 69,000 parents reported as victims, more than 35,000 of whom were recognized as victims. Nevertheless, the entire group of 69,000 can come to the municipality for help. “This includes a lot of people who have no children at all and have never received benefits.”
Municipalities now know better who they are dealing with, but they still want better information exchange with the State in order to make a good deal between them, says the alderman. And then again: “It is difficult to have tight conditions for what we can and cannot help with. If a fridge is broken or there is a leak that causes the house to mold, we will fix it immediately, but six tickets to South Africa are sometimes also requested for a one-month vacation. That's awesome, of course. But sometimes it can be good to reimburse tickets.”
“Frustration, disappointment and a lack of confidence”
For example, there are benefit victims who were so caught out by the tax authorities that they had fled abroad. “You don't have to replace everything. You want to prevent randomness but make customization possible.”
The current dispute between Finance and the Actual Damage Commission “stands in the way of the recovery process,” says Heijkoop. “As municipalities, we see the consequences for parents locally if this is not resolved: disappointment, disappointment and another loss of trust.”
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