Workers at the government’s UWV jobs centres are confronted with daily computer breakdowns and at least 14,000 reports made by job-seekers have been lost, the NRC said on Wednesday.

The files, including job applications and changes in personal circumstances, disappeared during three major crashes, the NRC said. The paper bases its claims on confidential internal documents.

The problems have been caused by ‘fundamental incompatability’ within the various UWV systems, the paper said.

A year ago, the NRC reported that the UWV had spent tens of millions of euros on IT improvements and social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher told parliament last month it will take until 2020 to solve the problems.

The UWV’s ‘IT landscape’ is ‘complex and ageing’ and without action, will become unmanageable, the minister said.

Two years ago, a special commission said the Dutch government is wasting between €1bn and €5bn a year on failing IT projects.