Fifteen years of findings on the benefits system
Netherlands Court of Audit shares lessons learned from its audits with parliament
The benefits system the government uses to help people pay their care expenses, rent, childcare and child related expenses is on the eve of fundamental change. The Netherlands Court of Audit has investigated the operation of parts of the benefits system many times since 2006. It summarised its main findings and the lessons learned from the audits in a letter sent to the House of Representatives on 13 February 2020.
Every change the government and House of Representatives want to make must take account of the current weaknesses in the Tax and Customs Administration’s ICT systems and their limited capacity. In practice the government and the House are prevented from making well-founded decisions on the benefits system by the current distinction between ministers who are responsible for policy and those who are responsible for its implementation. The Minister and State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment, for instance, were largely absent during recent debates on the strict approach to checking childcare benefit payments. Legal requirements on the payment of benefits are often complicated and differ from one scheme to another. This creates implementation problems and millions of recipients have received demands to repay the benefits they have received. The political debates pay too little attention to the conditions for implementation.Every change the government and House of Representatives want to make must take account of the current weaknesses in the Tax and Customs Administration’s ICT systems and their limited capacity. In practice the government and the House are prevented from making well-founded decisions on the benefits system by the current distinction between ministers who are responsible for policy and those who are responsible for its implementation. The Minister and State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment, for instance, were largely absent during recent debates on the strict approach to checking childcare benefit payments. Legal requirements on the payment of benefits are often complicated and differ from one scheme to another. This creates implementation problems and millions of recipients have received demands to repay the benefits they have received. The political debates pay too little attention to the conditions for implementation.
The government must finely weigh up the need to enforce the rules and the need to provide a public service as any imbalances between the two must subsequently be corrected. System errors often do not become known for quite some time. For many years, for instance, hundreds of thousands of people incorrectly received child benefit. Such errors undermine the public’s confidence in the government. In the Court of Audit’s opinion, feasibility tests and questions about what individual members of the public find acceptable should be taken into account when deciding on the future of the benefits system.The government must finely weigh up the need to enforce the rules and the need to provide a public service as any imbalances between the two must subsequently be corrected. System errors often do not become known for quite some time. For many years, for instance, hundreds of thousands of people incorrectly received child benefit. Such errors undermine the public’s confidence in the government. In the Court of Audit’s opinion, feasibility tests and questions about what individual members of the public find acceptable should be taken into account when deciding on the future of the benefits system.
The letter is only in Dutch available.