Fraud is widespread among people claiming a personal budget to buy-in healthcare services, the Telegraaf reports on Thursday.

The paper says officials have visited 30,000 households claiming a PGB over the past two years and found potential fraud involved in 7% of cases. In addition, in some 900 cases the care was of such a low standard that health inspectors were warned to intervene.

The total budget for PGBs, which are now administered by health insurance companies, is around €2.5bn a year.

Junior health minister Martin van Rijn has set aside €5m to pay for an increase in home visits. In addition, he says checks on the quality should be carried out before the healthcare services are paid for rather than in retrospect.

Payments are also no longer made directly into patients’ bank accounts.