Cabinet wants to smooth out help to benefit parents and opens new counter after recess
By José Boon
Jul 4, 2025 at 15:10 Update: 1 week ago
Parents who are victims of the benefits scandal receive better and faster help from the government. This is what outgoing Secretary of State Sandra Palmen (Allowances) promises. The ministry will also control less to increase speed.
To smooth out the help, there will be two counters instead of five where parents can go for additional compensation. This concerns compensation for the loss of, for example, a job, home or teeth. The entire recovery operation has become slow and complicated in six years.
From September, parents can sign up for the so-called My Recovery route. Palmen promises a fast, digital route with “targeted personal contact”. Here, parents can demonstrate what damage they have suffered themselves or with the help of their lawyer. They can also share their story if they need it.
Under the new policy, all affected parents are welcome here, regardless of the amount of the allowance they had to hand in. However, the government does ask for additional support from someone who has lost a home, for example, if they have had to miss out on relatively little money.
For example, there are parents who have had to pay less than 2,000 euros to the government for a maximum of two years. They must additionally substantiate major claims. Severely affected parents received claims of up to tens of thousands of euros. In both cases, their lives can be significantly affected.
Telling a story to the writer
The second counter already exists and is the Equal Recovery Foundation (SGH), founded by Princess Laurentien. Parents can tell their story to a writer during multiple personal meetings. An injury expert then decides what kind of compensation is included. The end is a ceremony with someone from the government.
Former Secretary of State Michiel Scheltema becomes an explorer. Scheltema provides advice about the cooperation between SGH and the ministry, which did not always go smoothly. Previously, Winnie Sorgdrager was supposed to become an explorer, but SGH pointed out that she had ruled in benefits cases before the Council of State itself.
Where parents file their damage should not matter how much they receive back. SGH and the government's implementing organization will use the same claims framework. An administrative route remains possible for parents who disagree with this outcome.
In addition, the Ministry of Finance will stop pre-assessing the submitted damage by SGH. This should accelerate.
Deadline remains in place, despite mountain of objections
Affected parents can only register for additional damage in 2025. Palmen is “confident” that they will be “heard and helped” by 2027 at the latest.
The Van Dam committee recommended against sticking to the 2027 deadline, which wrote a devastating report on the recovery operation earlier this year.
There is also a mountain of objections. The ministry is trying to find a solution together with some parents. There will be more capacity for high-priority concerns. As a result, other objection cases will have to wait longer.
At the current rate, the government would take fifteen to twenty years to help all victims, wrote the Van Dam Commission. You can read more about that report in the article below.
No counter was prepared for so many victims
Between 2004 and 2019, the tax authorities unfairly reclaimed childcare allowance from 42,000 parents, often with dramatic consequences. Debts piled up, drastically changing lives.
In the worst case, children are born to duped parents removed from home. There is also a group of families who already had problems before the benefits scandal. They have now lost control of their lives and are being offered separate help.
The government initially assumed several hundred victims, for whom, for example, the Commission for Actual Damage was set up. Around a thousand parents were helped there. No counter was prepared for the huge group of affected parents.
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