Lawyers and interest groups fear that not all victims of the benefits affair will actually report for compensation. Especially people who have moved abroad are difficult to reach. Some of those people have left because they were hunted by the tax authorities, the organizations say.
So far, 968 people with an address outside the Netherlands have registered. It is impossible to say how many people are not in the picture.
Another wind blows
“We know, partly from the talks with duped parents, that people have moved abroad because they can no longer pay their debts,” says the Ministry of Finance.
According to the ministry, attempts are being made to reach duped parents, at home and abroad, through letters, the website with English-language information, Facebook and Twitter. “We want to restore the trust that has been broken.” There is also one since last week web page online with information for parents living abroad.
According to Gjalt Jellesma van Boink, the interest group for parents in childcare, State Secretary Van Huffelen is keen to get every parent in the picture, but more needs to be done to reach these groups.
“Those people have left with the idea of a very hostile government. We must make it clear that a different wind is really blowing in that respect. It is conceivable, for example, that you broadcast a commercial on channels that are also viewed and heard in Morocco and Turkey . “
Bus or metro for school
Lucia Martis of aid organization Profor has seen people migrate abroad in recent years. “I saw at least ten or twenty leave during the period that the Tax Authorities were after them. They had no life here anymore, many became depressed and were fed up.” It concerned people with tens of thousands of euros in debt.
“Because all allowances were often cut, some parents did not even have the money for the bus or the metro to send the children to school.” Martis does not know where these people are now. “They probably also want as little contact with the Netherlands as possible.”
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