The immigration service IND will have to pay €70m in compensation to asylum seekers this year because it has taken too long to assess their cases, the NRC reported at the weekend.

The paper bases its claim on internal documents which state that the bill for compensation is rising by €1m a week, because of the ‘chaos’ within the department itself. Junior justice minister Ankie Broekers-Knol said last year that the 2020 bill would be €17m.

The agency has six months to assess a simple asylum request, after which it becomes liable to pay its ‘clients’ compensation of up to €15,000.

Last week it emerged that the justice ministry is planning to claw back some of the financial compensation to help pay for the extra time asylum seekers spend in refugee centres.

Refugee organisations have criticised the plan, saying that the threat of the fine is the only way to put pressure on the IND to deal with cases quickly.

The minister is due to present extra measures to speed up procedures to parliament later this week.