Victims of benefits scandal receive settlement offer of €5,000

Around 4,700 victims in the benefits scandal will receive a settlement offer of 5,000 euros. This is regarding the people who are officially recognized as victims and have already received a first compensation fee of 30,000 euros but objected to their compensation proposal for further compensation after an investigation. They can now choose to take the money and drop their formal complaint, which would mean that the large backlog is being closed somewhat.

Thus far, 250 people have been approached with such a proposition, the Ministry of Finance reported after being questioned on the matter by Nieuwsuur. Half of the 250 people responded positively to the proposition, and 30 percent requested more time to think it over. Around five percent rejected the settlement offer.

The measure, announced in June by then-State Secretary Aukje de Vries, is unorthodox, the ministry admits. “Preferably, we would like to handle every complaint carefully, but the practicality has taught us that, in many cases, it is not possible to do that within the legal time frame.” The intervention has been “successfully applied” in the past during the recovery operation for earthquake damage in Groningen.

A settlement fee of 5,000 euros was chosen because it is somewhat in the middle of all additional payments after a well-founded complaint. Three-quarters of the complaints processed so far resulted in no additional payment or an additional amount below 5000 euros.

“It is completely up to the parents whether they want to accept the settlement offer or not,” the Ministry of Finance emphasized. “If the parent does not accept the settlement, then the complaint will be treated.” The victims have two weeks to think about the offer.

As a rule, parents receiving benefits receive the outcome of the first “integral assessment” in a reasonable time. However, parents who have been recognized as victims often have to wait a very long time for further decisions if they believe they are entitled to more than the first 30,000 euros they receive after that initial evaluation.