Carers caught up in the personal care budget chaos saw their chance of compensation disappear on Tuesday when the SVB bank won its appeal against an earlier case.

That case dates back to June when a carer won a court case for compensation for late payment from the SVB bank.

The late payment was as a result of a new system, introduced in January, for administering the personal care budget. To avoid fraud, payments are no longer made to the patient. Carers are now paid by the social insurance bank SVB, but are receiving payments too late or not at all.

Same law

The carer’s lawyer, Eric van der Goot, argued that the SVB should pay compensation. The judge agreed, saying the same employment law applied in this case as in any relationship between an employer and an employee. He gave the woman 25% of the late payment, amounting to €1,100.

The SVB appealed and the court in Amsterdam said that the bank cannot be seen as the employer of the carer. The compensation claim is therefore denied.

‘Very disappointing,’ Van der Goot told the Telegraaf. ‘Who can she hold responsible for the non-payment?’

The decision is also disappointing for the several thousand carers who applied to join the class action legal case set up by Van der Goot online.