The refugee settlement agency COA, justice ministry and local councils are making plans to take in 93,600 asylum seekers this year, according to research by the NRC and current affairs show Reporter Radio.

That figure was first made public in January but has since been ignored by ministers, the NRC said. Last month, prime minister Mark Rutte described the forecast as exaggerated and said it failed to take into account all the plans to reduce the number of refugees arriving in Europe and the Netherlands.

The government is sticking by its estimate of 58,000 refugees during the course of this year. However, the earlier estimate is being used by all the organisations involved in settling asylum seekers and processing their claims, including the home affairs ministry, the NRC says.

They claim in internal documents that the prime minister’s stance is hampering their efforts to accommodate the increasing number of refugees and fear there could be a shortfall of 50,000 places by the end of the year.