The minimum wage and benefits are too low to make ends meet, which is why more and more people find themselves in trouble. The government needs to change that by becoming more active and social. That’s what the national ombudsman says.

In the Netherlands about a million people have to live on an income close to the social minimum. The national ombudsman, Reinier van Zutphen, has investigated the bottlenecks faced by different groups of minimum wage earners.

He says he keeps encountering the same problems. According to him, the differences between communities are big and people don’t know where to go for help. He calls on the government to actively help.

Complicated rules, time-consuming administration

Van Zutphen: “As long as people are in financial difficulties, they cannot work on their future.” The planned increases in benefits and the minimum wage do not solve these problems enough, he says.

Van Zutphen also concludes that the differences between communities are too great. Whether someone makes ends meet depends on where they live.

The most financially vulnerable citizens are the most burdened with filing applications and other formalities. The rules are complicated and the administration very time-consuming, says the ombudsman. Due to strict income limits, citizens can quickly lose their allowances if they earn a little more.

different image of man

Therefore, the ombudsman pleads for a sufficient and state-regulated social minimum. Municipalities then have their hands free to guide their residents to work or education.

Van Zutphen also wants an active government that visits citizens to help and indicate what help is available, or even grant it automatically. In addition, in the Ombudsman’s view, changes in a person’s financial situation should not immediately lead to a clawback of benefits.

The National Ombudsman believes that the government does not start from a realistic view of human beings and wants this view to be reversed: “The government has moved from the image of a cheating citizen to a government that proves citizens right when in doubt. Then, in fact, nothing has changed. That is no other image of man.”