A Dictionary of Dutchness

PGB

The persoonsgebonden budget is an amount of money which people – particularly the elderly and physically-handicapped – can claim from the government to spend on services as they see fit. Think of help with going shopping, for example. But the rules for spending it are so lax that fraud is easy and the government is planning major reforms. In one case which came to light in early 2009, a man continued to claim the budget for his mother even though she had died five years previously.