Cabinet is taking extra measures against government problem debts

The outgoing Cabinet is taking additional measures to prevent people from accumulating problematic debts to the government. For example, government agencies will cooperate better in collecting debts so that people with multiple outstanding debts do not fall below the poverty line as debt collections continue to pile up.

Minister Carola Schouten (Poverty Policy) reported that to the Tweede Kamer. "Too often in government, the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing," the minister admits. "People who have debts to various government agencies can therefore get quite stalled"

Schouten says such an accumulation of debt often leads to all sorts of other problems, "from poverty to mental health problems or loneliness." That's why she thinks it's important to pay more attention to people in this situation. "And that people need to be involved with one government as much as possible."

For that reason, a joint payment scheme was already set up late last year for study debts and traffic fines, among other things. The intention is for more government organizations to join this step by step.

Another goal of the improved collection policy is to prevent debts from rising further when people really can't pay them, for example through penalties and interest. A pause button for people who are stuck is also included. There will also be an online overview where citizens themselves can easily see what debts they still have outstanding to the government.