Some 800 people who should have passed the reading and listening parts of the Dutch integration exams have been wrongly told they had failed, because of a system error, social affairs minister Wouter Koolmees has told MPs.

At the same time, 450 people who should have failed were actually given a pass mark, Koolmees said.

The mistakes were made in exams taken between December 2017 and March 2019, the minister said.

People who wrongly passed will be able to keep their diplomas because they should not be retroactively made the victims of government failings, Koolmees said. The people who should have passed will be informed and will get compensation for any extra expenses.

Koolmees also told MPs that some 4,000 people have applied to be exempted from the labour market orientation tests, since the option was introduced in April this year.

In total, 90% of the requests have been honoured because people were able to prove they had sufficient work experience.

The labour market orientation test has long irritated working people going through the inburgering process because it assumes they have little in the way of experience or qualifications.