Benefit officials are to be given the right to check up on claimants in a wide number of databases to verify their claims about income and family situation, junior social affairs minister Paul de Krom told MPs in a briefing on Thursday.

For example, officials will be able to check in the land registry to find out if people own a house and with electricity suppliers to see if their energy consumption could indicate an ‘illegal’ relationship. They will also have access to information about student grants and water usage.
‘Benefits are meant for people who really need them and are entitled to them. Fraud has to be tackled,’ Rinda den Besten, Utrecht council executive and chairman of a local authority anti-fraud initiative, said in a statement.
Last year, officials uncovered benefit fraud totalling €119m. In total, 82,000 people gave wrong information about their personal situation to the authorities.