The Tax and Customs Administration department that is responsible for financial compensation for victims in the Benefits Affair is falling short. At the end of July, this so-called Implementing Organization for Recovery of Allowances (UHT) had fallen behind considerably and exceeded the legal processing time of six weeks in more than a quarter of the complaints. That concludes National Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen in a report published on Monday entitled Complaint justified, but no solution.
The study focused on the months of March to July this year and follows a recently published and also published report critical report of the ombudsman about the handling of this affair. For 5,700 victims, the legal term of one year within which they had to be helped has expired at the end of September, according to Van Zutphen. It is unclear when their recovery requests will be processed, because there is no concrete planning from the UHT. Moreover, according to the Ombudsman, the system of financial compensation for victims is too complicated.
As a result, victims do not know where they stand, so that “stress and uncertainty are still the order of the day”. Parents want to be able to close this issue emotionally and financially, concludes Van Zutphen, but according to him they are still unable to do so.
‘Parents are still stuck’
The ombudsman draws a parallel with the mistakes that the government initially made during the Allowances affair and the way in which it is now being rectified. “Parents are still stuck,” he writes. “The recovery is slow and the system is too complicated.”
State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen (Finance, D66) stated in the summer that the recovery process in the Allowances affair must be overhauled, but there is not yet a new approach. The ombudsman calls on the cabinet to take ‘drastic decisions and measures’ to ensure that the victims receive clarity about the status of their request within the legal term at the latest.
The Tax and Customs Administration department that is responsible for financial compensation for victims in the Benefits Affair is falling short. At the end of July, this so-called Implementing Organization for Recovery of Allowances (UHT) had fallen behind considerably and exceeded the legal processing time of six weeks in more than a quarter of the complaints. That concludes National Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen in a report published on Monday entitled Complaint justified, but no solution.
The study focused on the months of March to July this year and follows a recently published and also published report critical report of the ombudsman about the handling of this affair. For 5,700 victims, the legal term of one year within which they had to be helped has expired at the end of September, according to Van Zutphen. It is unclear when their recovery requests will be processed, because there is no concrete planning from the UHT. Moreover, according to the Ombudsman, the system of financial compensation for victims is too complicated.
As a result, victims do not know where they stand, so that “stress and uncertainty are still the order of the day”. Parents want to be able to close this issue emotionally and financially, concludes Van Zutphen, but according to him they are still unable to do so.
‘Parents are still stuck’
The ombudsman draws a parallel with the mistakes that the government initially made during the Allowances affair and the way in which it is now being rectified. “Parents are still stuck,” he writes. “The recovery is slow and the system is too complicated.”
State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen (Finance, D66) stated in the summer that the recovery process in the Allowances affair must be overhauled, but there is not yet a new approach. The ombudsman calls on the cabinet to take ‘drastic decisions and measures’ to ensure that the victims receive clarity about the status of their request within the legal term at the latest.
The Tax and Customs Administration department that is responsible for financial compensation for victims in the Benefits Affair is falling short. At the end of July, this so-called Implementing Organization for Recovery of Allowances (UHT) had fallen behind considerably and exceeded the legal processing time of six weeks in more than a quarter of the complaints. That concludes National Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen in a report published on Monday entitled Complaint justified, but no solution.
The study focused on the months of March to July this year and follows a recently published and also published report critical report of the ombudsman about the handling of this affair. For 5,700 victims, the legal term of one year within which they had to be helped has expired at the end of September, according to Van Zutphen. It is unclear when their recovery requests will be processed, because there is no concrete planning from the UHT. Moreover, according to the Ombudsman, the system of financial compensation for victims is too complicated.
As a result, victims do not know where they stand, so that “stress and uncertainty are still the order of the day”. Parents want to be able to close this issue emotionally and financially, concludes Van Zutphen, but according to him they are still unable to do so.
‘Parents are still stuck’
The ombudsman draws a parallel with the mistakes that the government initially made during the Allowances affair and the way in which it is now being rectified. “Parents are still stuck,” he writes. “The recovery is slow and the system is too complicated.”
State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen (Finance, D66) stated in the summer that the recovery process in the Allowances affair must be overhauled, but there is not yet a new approach. The ombudsman calls on the cabinet to take ‘drastic decisions and measures’ to ensure that the victims receive clarity about the status of their request within the legal term at the latest.
The Tax and Customs Administration department that is responsible for financial compensation for victims in the Benefits Affair is falling short. At the end of July, this so-called Implementing Organization for Recovery of Allowances (UHT) had fallen behind considerably and exceeded the legal processing time of six weeks in more than a quarter of the complaints. That concludes National Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen in a report published on Monday entitled Complaint justified, but no solution.
The study focused on the months of March to July this year and follows a recently published and also published report critical report of the ombudsman about the handling of this affair. For 5,700 victims, the legal term of one year within which they had to be helped has expired at the end of September, according to Van Zutphen. It is unclear when their recovery requests will be processed, because there is no concrete planning from the UHT. Moreover, according to the Ombudsman, the system of financial compensation for victims is too complicated.
As a result, victims do not know where they stand, so that “stress and uncertainty are still the order of the day”. Parents want to be able to close this issue emotionally and financially, concludes Van Zutphen, but according to him they are still unable to do so.
‘Parents are still stuck’
The ombudsman draws a parallel with the mistakes that the government initially made during the Allowances affair and the way in which it is now being rectified. “Parents are still stuck,” he writes. “The recovery is slow and the system is too complicated.”
State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen (Finance, D66) stated in the summer that the recovery process in the Allowances affair must be overhauled, but there is not yet a new approach. The ombudsman calls on the cabinet to take ‘drastic decisions and measures’ to ensure that the victims receive clarity about the status of their request within the legal term at the latest.