Allowance affair interview
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Secretary of State Sandra Palmen will be the last minister before recovering from the benefits affair. They hope that the circle is complete immediately.
This article was written by Esther Lammers
political editor
Published on July 18, 2025, 7:22 PM
It was a bit of “coming home,” said outgoing Secretary of State Sandra Palmen, when she returned to the Ministry of Finance last December. The NSC minister had already walked some footsteps as a legal officer before she switched to politics.
Palmen was the official who was the first to sound the alarm at the ministry. In 2017, she wrote in an internal memo that parents were wronged by erroneous stops in childcare allowance and that they were entitled to compensation. But this memo mysteriously “found” or “disappeared” in a deep drawer. It only resurfaced in 2020, during the parliamentary hearings about the benefits affair.
In 2023, Palmen became a member of parliament for NSC, the party of Pieter Omtzigt, the MP who helped uncover the affair. But when Nora Achahbar suddenly resigned as Secretary of State for Supplements last year, due to polarizing statements from cabinet members, Palmen herself became an minister. “I didn't want parents to have to wait any longer for help. It is a complex file, but I did not speak to them regularly. So I thought, okay, then I'll go for it.”
For months, we worked in complicated silence to get the stalled recovery operation back on its feet. But now there is white smoke: from September, she will even announce an enormous acceleration of claims handling. They hope to arrange everything so that the next cabinet no longer needs a separate administrator for the recovery surgery surcharges.
Do you think that your claims treatment will also regain trust in the government from the allowance parents?
“To restore trust, you first have to do something right. We finally have to show something, say the parents who are already effectively waiting. I hear the most terrible stories from them. Their lives are at a standstill, and I can't promise them anything. But I understand very well that damage repair is now the most important thing. Only then can they try to get past this injustice.
“That's why we're going so fast now. By August, we will have picked up all the files. All recognized allowance parents then received an average of 42,000 euros. If you include the repayment of their debts plus the broad support, we are talking about an average of 117,000 euros.
Quote from. ' In my opinion, it's not about the question of guilt, but about acknowledgment. '
“But I'm not saying that the injustice is gone. Because it's about the impact they've experienced. All allowance parents who think they still have additional damage above 42,000 euros can request that. We will fully focus on this final phase of the recovery from September. The Equal Recovery Foundation is also going to scale up. I have to trust whether they can do that.”
You have no fixed new government commissioner that the House asked for. Former minister and councilor of state Winnie Sorgdrager withdrew after Princess Laurentien's foundation publicly expressed doubts about her.
“Indeed, that's not what I want, because a new government commissioner takes four to six months of training, and I just wanted to speed up.”
You now offer parents two ways to claim their additional damage. A parent can first have her or his story written down by Princess Laurentien's foundation. Or a parent can carry out the damage with the help of a lawyer via the “My Recovery Route”. It sounds much easier. How did that work out?
” I held meetings with a large delegation from society. This included the ombudsman, lawyers, parents, professors, the implementing organization, and a representative of Princess Laurentien's Equal Recovery Foundation (SGH).
“All of them: hurry up, hurry. Yes, really! The second message was: you can't exclude anyone from the follow-up damage route beforehand, because you don't know how big the impact has been. But you do have to make a policy, because it makes a difference whether you had to pay back 1,500 euros in childcare allowance, or 150,000 euros. We have now drawn up the rules together with the foundation.”
Have relations with Princess Laurentien's foundation been restored? The argument was fought quite openly through the media.
“I asked Michiel Scheltema to help me. I know him well. He is a former minister (Secretary of State for Justice from 1981 to 1982, ed.), former government official and professor emeritus in the same field as me. As an explorer, he started talking to everyone, including the foundation. That gave rise to the idea to breed how to make the recovery operation smooth. And Princess Laurentien and I got along pretty quickly in our wish to help the allowance parents.”
Is the recovery operation really going again?
“That did help me. When I took office, there were five different routes for additional damage. It was a Christmas tree with lots of balls, and even Easter branches. It was a Christmas tree with lots of balls, and even Easter branches. It was that in January, the Van Dam emergency committee recommended reducing the tangle to two routes, with an equal outcome. That's what we did. In the My Recovery route, we now also offer a recovery interview, with someone from benefits and a mediator. Because it's what someone says about someone's personal story. That really helps.”
The cabinet also recently announced an apology for offering to displaced children of allowance parents. Why?
“For some young people, the benefits scandal has led to a lot of additional suffering, such as relocation and financial problems at an early age. They have sometimes experienced so much trouble that it is extra important to hear from the government: we see and hear you suffer. Together with young people, we want to shape the apology. What do they want and what do they need? I can't say more about it yet.”
Does the government have a responsibility for the suffering of these young people?
“In my opinion, it's not about the question of guilt, but about recognition. Young people have experienced suffering, and as a government, we feel morally obliged to do something about it. It's about seeing and hearing this suffering, and helping the young people get on with their lives.”
That further help was already agreed in the existing child regulations. Is there all that broad support for young people?
“That's right. But in practice, the child scheme is not being used enough, and that is a shame. More than 120,000 young people received a sum of 10,000 euros, and if they had enough, they were repaid for an average of 18,000 euros. But they also have the right to support such as training, coaching and mental care. And that is very difficult. I now want to appoint an administrative director who will ensure that help to young people is more equal.”
There is a disappointment that the cabinet is refusing to blame for their student loans.
“That remains the elephant in the room. I recently visited a municipality that said it was so annoying that there will be no remission. I said that Duo (Department of Education and Implementation, provided student loans, ed.) has an entire team, especially to help young people with benefits. I asked: What does Duo say when you call or email them? But the municipality had never done that before. That's a shame, that's not how we help the young people.”
Do you want it to be possible to cancel student debts individually?
“Duo has a great power to deliver customized solutions. If the academic years are up, or a youngest has become too old, or has trouble paying back, they can help. Or when an allowance youngster hasn't studied at all, but doesn't want to do that yet. And yes, sometimes Duo can also cancel the debt.”
Nevertheless, it sounds difficult that the cabinet refuses to cancel the Duo debts. SP leader Jimmy Dijk calls it “unjust”.
“On the contrary, I think it is unfair to generically cancel this debt. If allowance parents receive financial help from friends, family of children, this will already be reimbursed to the parents. It is possible that a student has contributed to the family income. Because bailiffs knocked at home. There are also children who borrowed money from Duo but did not buy tuition fees or textbooks. They did not buy, but wanted to use the money to support the family. These situations occur, but this damage is already included.
Quote from. ' I hope the circle is complete right away. That they say: she was there at the beginning of the affair and at the end. '
“In the case of these young people, they simply go on studying to study. A generic remission is also not included in this child scheme, because it is intended to help benefit children wisely. We also don't look at the level of dupe.
“If we were to scold the loss of student debt, we would create an enormous injustice towards all those young people who would just repay their student debt. Many young people say to me: don't just cancel that Duo debt. But I do want you to listen to me. Young people don't want to be seen as a “walking debt”.
“It's so annoying that this wrong image is always portrayed. Mr. Dijk (SP) has had the Duo debts to be canceled regularly six out of seven times. I, and my predecessors, always try to explain to the House why we opt for an individual approach. I find it repeatedly that he keeps coming back hiero.”
If the recovery operation actually goes smoothly, your mission will be successful. But how do you want to be remembered in the future?
“I hope the circle is complete right away. That they say: the Palmen was there at the beginning of the affair, and she's there at the end.”
Also read:
Our collection page about the Allowances affair
Secretary of State for Benefits Nora Achahbar (NSC): 'It's not strange that people want to be grieve'
Interview with Palmen's predecessor from September last year, when Nora Achahbar was still Secretary of State.
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