The settlement of the childcare allowance affair will certainly take another year, says Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra on Wednesday after a discussion with victims who have been victims.
With the compensation for the first few hundred victims, Hoekstra says he took an “important first step” at the end of last year, but emphasizes that the settlement is still in the initial phase.
The minister is currently awaiting an investigation by the Donner Committee. The report, which will be published at the end of January, must show how many victims there are. Possibly there are thousands. “So although I want to get on with it energetically, it has to be careful.”
Hoekstra thinks that it is certainly the rest of the calendar year that it is necessary to see per victim what has happened and what needs to be done to rectify it. Because it is not clear how many people are involved, he cannot yet mention an end date.
“Money problems a small piece of misery”
Due to the childcare allowance affair, many victims were confronted with financial problems. “The stories at the table show that it is a small piece of the misery,” says Hoekstra. For example, relationships are stranded, people have lost their jobs and there is no longer any trust in the government.
Fifteen victims were present during the conversation. The BOinK interest group, which was allowed to assemble the group, says that the stories of those present have given Hoekstra “a good picture of the scale of the problems”.
Hoekstra, who has been managing the file on the allowance affair since the departure of responsible State Secretary Menno Snel, will again have a discussion with victims later this month. Then Prime Minister Mark Rutte is also present.
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