Subsidized legal aid scheme did not function adequately in childcare allowance cases

News item | 03-07-2023 | 18:04

Affected parents in the childcare allowance affair found it difficult to access subsidised legal assistance. It was often assumed that they could do it themselves without a lawyer. As a result, social lawyers have provided less or no subsidized legal assistance in objections against the tax authorities. This is evident from research by the WODC. Without that legal help, some of the affected parents were alone with the tax authorities or refrained from proceeding altogether. It was not timely noticed that the provision of subsidised legal assistance in childcare allowance cases did not go well. The conclusion is that the subsidised legal aid system did not function adequately during the childcare allowance affair.

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Bottlenecks

When assessing applications for subsidised legal aid in objections against the tax authorities, it was often assumed that citizens were self-reliant. This took too little account of the complexity of the childcare allowance cases and the ability of the various citizens to actually be self-reliant. The legislation that regulates access to subsidised legal aid does provide opportunities to do so. It is openly formulated and leaves a lot to implementation practice for development. In practice, insufficient use was made of this decision-making space. The childcare allowance affair has shown that government bodies are not always accessible and helpful. Other forms of assistance, such as social counsellor work, are also not available everywhere. Under these circumstances, it is difficult for citizens to file an objection without the help of a lawyer. Moreover, the monitoring of the system was not adequate. Bottlenecks were not identified and identified in time. As a result, there was too little insight into actually achieving the intended social effect of the system: subsidized legal aid for cases where it is really necessary.

How could it be better?

Strengthen primary legal assistance. Ensure that all litigants have early access to accessible forms of socio-legal assistance, such as social counselors. This can prevent legal proceedings and offers opportunities to provide social support in case of multi-problems. In addition, ensure a more generous addition policy, so that subsidized legal assistance is possible for more cases. Social lawyers found the method exclusive: no subsidized legal assistance was provided in objections against the tax authorities, unless it could be justified that the case was very complex. The insights from this study suggest that an inclusive approach, where subsidized legal assistance is provided unless it is very clear that someone can do it themselves, is better suited to citizens' actual self-reliance. Keep a better overview of the functioning of the system by identifying and identifying bottlenecks in time. Better registration of applications for subsidised legal aid and timely legal support play an important role in this.