Opinion

Opinion: The recovery operation for the benefits affair has ended in a recovery scandal

In the recovery operation, the government is too concerned with the legality of procedures and not enough with the needs of victims. That is not respectful and, above all, harmful, say Ombudswoman Marianne van den Anker and Stans Goudsmit.

Marianne van den Anker and Stans GoudsmitOctober 22, 2024, 2:50 PM

On November 6, the House of Representatives (Finance Committee) will already discuss the eighteenth progress report on the recovery operation of the benefits scandal. The end is far from in sight.

Until then, many victims still struggle every day with the injustice done to them by the government. And as long as the financial recovery is not complete, emotional recovery cannot begin, victims tell us.

About the AuthorsMarianne van den Anker is Ombudsman of Rotterdam-Rijnmond. Stans Goudsmit is the Children's Ombudsman of Rotterdam-Rijnmond.

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The Rotterdam region has been hit hardest by the benefits scandal, where an estimated 11 thousand families were affected. With children and (ex) partners included, that number easily reaches 40 thousand people. To accelerate and improve recovery, we have in 2023 the Rheinmond Alliance established.

Solutions

This unique alliance consists of victims, their children and (former) partners, aldermen and officials from the five municipalities where we work, and the Ombudsman Rotterdam-Rijnmond. With this alliance, we want to bring the needs and conceived solutions of affected families and professionals to the attention of politicians.

What strikes us from all the stories we hear from victims is that the government looks too much from the legality of proceedings and not enough through the ombudsman's eye. Indeed, as Ombudswoman, we test whether the government is not only acting lawfully but also properly, such as a respectful approach. But it is precisely this standard that is not being sufficiently complied with in the recovery operation of the benefits scandal.

According to the standards of decency that all (child) ombudsmen use, 'respectful' means, among other things, that the government promotes active participation by residents and complies with human rights. Although the State and a number of municipalities are doing their best to involve victims in designing and carrying out the recovery operation, we see that the number of victims involved is still limited. As a result, the government is not sufficiently aware of the needs of victims to recover.

truthfully

The Tax, Fees and Customs Inspectorate (IBTD), which investigates whether the government treats people and companies fairly when dealing with tax issues, recently concluded that the government starts recovery operations without having a good idea of the needs of victims, while frameworks for enforceability by officials guide the organization of a recovery operation.

This leads to a recovery approach that focuses not on the needs of victims, but on the conditions of the government, according to the Inspectorate. This is also reflected in the recovery operation from the benefits scandal. Some of the victims do not have access to a procedure where they can raise concerns about the violation of their rights and that leads to a real solution within a reasonable period of time. While that is an essential human right that the government must guarantee.

The recovery operation is now deficient in a number of points. First of all, and that's nothing new, the recovery process takes far too long. The recovery operation started in 2020 and is not expected to be completed in the coming years.

Extremely complicated

The recovery operation is also extremely complicated. Light test, comprehensive assessment, Actual Damage Committee, objection and appeal procedures, et cetera: too many steps are needed to achieve a permanent recovery. And in addition, the operation is carried out by a party that is also the perpetrator in this matter: the government.

We believe in the course taken to go through other routes, outside the government, that lead to a 'one-stop shop' -lead a solution of at least a financial recovery, but preferably also from an emotional recovery. These routes, based on “plausibility” and personal injury practice, make the recovery operation more proper and “human rights proof”.

In order to speak of a recovery procedure that is human rights proof, it is necessary that victims have the correct information to support their claim. But this is often not the case. Many victims are still waiting for their government file. Some have even been waiting for that for years. Others, on the other hand, receive an incomplete file or a file in which a lot has been painted black. Although the parent file that the government is now providing is faster, many victims do not have that file yet or it is not complete, we hear.

School career

Finally, the children of the victims. Like their parents, they have experienced unprecedented injustice. These children (now often of age) grew up with parents who were struggling with extreme stress, with all the socio-emotional consequences that entails. They too have become homeless, displaced from home, have lived in extreme poverty or have missed opportunities in their lives and during their school career. But unlike their parents, they have no access to a claim procedure.

The only way left for these children is to go to court. But finding a lawyer who wants to do this is difficult. Lawyers find it too complicated, because it has not been done before or they ask for a lot of money, something that these children often do not have. In short, the right to an effective remedy is not guaranteed for these children.

All this in all means that the government does not sufficiently comply with the standards of fairness when it comes to recovering from the benefits scandal. As far as we are concerned, if you look through the ombudsman's eye, there is now also a recovery scandal.

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