Unemployed and work-disabled hit harder by new cabinet plans
In the media image: Pedro Lastra on Unsplash
Unemployed and work-disabled people fear the new Dutch cabinet's plans to reduce benefits. Social security law experts, including Barend Barentsen, warn in ‘NRC’ of a sharp drop in income and cast doubt on the legal viability of the plan.
A considerable number of people who are work-disabled or unemployed risk losing up to 20 percent of their income from 2029 due to the new cabinet's plans to lower maximum benefit levels. According to experts, this would lead to a ‘substantial drop in income’ and is at odds with the right to property as laid down in the European Convention on Human Rights. That convention also protects entitlements to future benefits for which the government has created legitimate expectations.
Barentsen says the cabinet must 'come up with a very good justification' to lower current benefits. 'Wanting to spend more on defence is defensible but not such an urgent reason to lower current benefits, in my view.' According to Barentsen, people on occupational disability benefits (WIA) are particularly affected by the measure, because they have often been dependent on their benefits for a long time. 'It's different for unemployment benefits (WW), since that is paid for a maximum of two years. Anyone receiving them at the time of the reduction in 2029 will only have entered the scheme after the announcement of this austerity plan.’
More information?
Read the full NRC article (€, in Dutch)