Government bodies collaborate to scrap their penalty payments

Government organisations have been working together to get the financial penalties they owe for missing their deadlines scrapped, an investigation by newspaper Trouw has found.

Officials at the immigration service IND, the benefits agency UWV and the tax office’s benefits arm have been in communication about whether they can push for a complete legal change, freeing them from any fines for failure to comply with their duties.

Internal emails and memos obtained via freedom of information requests show an IND adviser writing to a counterpart at the tax office last year saying they’re looking into abolishing penalties altogether and wants to “see whether abolition for the whole of administrative law is possible”.

Since 2009, anyone whose application for a permit, benefit or allowance is not decided within the legal deadline can be entitled to remedial payments.

The relevant agency is first put on notice, and then if it still fails to decide within two weeks, it owes a daily penalty, rising to a maximum of €1,442, and the applicant can go to court, where a judge can impose an even higher one.

The IND is by far the biggest payer. It paid out nearly €100 million in the first half of this year, almost all of it on asylum cases. Some individual claimants received over €100,000. The agencies say they cannot meet their deadlines because of staff shortages and rising caseloads.

Immigration applicants have already lost the right to automatic penalty payments under an earlier law. In March, MPs from the SGP, ChristenUnie, JA21 and VVD voted to scrap court-imposed ones too, for all immigration cases including residence permits.

The Senate is expected to debate it on September 22, broadcaster NOS reported. Social affairs minister Hans Vijlbrief has said he wants the same for the UWV.
Asked about the emails, an IND spokesperson told Trouw the service is in contact with agencies facing “the same problems” and that “experiences are exchanged”.