Concerns that some local councils are requiring welfare benefit claimants to do ordinary jobs on the cheap are to be looked into by the social affairs ministry.

Junior social affairs minister Jetta Klijnsma said on Wednesday she would kick start the process and that MPs would be briefed on who would lead the investigation before the summer.

Labour and D66 MPs said earlier the effect of the rule – which requires people who claim welfare benefits (bijstand) to do something for society in return – should be investigated.

Blacklist

The FNV trade union has compiled a blacklist of cases in which claimants have been used to replace regular jobs and undermine minimum wage legislation.

The minister said her investigation would not only look at abuse of the system but at best practices.

In Rotterdam and Enschede, for example, claimants have to serve coffee in pensioners homes and help school children cross the road, news agency ANP said.