Tens of thousands of people aged 50 plus who have been claiming the incapacity benefit Wajong for decades will not have to go through a new health check to see if they can work after all.

Junior social affairs minister Jetta Klijnsma has reached agreement with the UWV benefits payment agency about cancelling the planned health tests, Trouw said on Monday.

Everyone over the age of 50 whose inability to work was made official before they turned 18 will now be sent a letter telling them that they have ‘no capacity to work’ and that their benefits will not be cut.

The decision is a u-turn for the minister who said in 2013 everyone should to go through a new assessment procedure to see if they could work. People deemed partially fit would lose some of their benefits if they did not apply for jobs, the minister said at the time.

Some 36,000 people over the age of 50 receive a form of incapacity benefit known as Wajong, which is equivalent to 75% of the minimum wage. In addition, a further 8,000 over-50s claim partial Wajong and also have a job, Trouw said.

The Netherlands has a complicated system of incapacity benefits, depending on when people became unfit for work and what form of injury or illness they have. In total, over 800,000 people are claiming some form of benefit because they cannot work.