Stop punishing citizens for making mistakes at gov’t agencies: D66

People who accidentally make a mistake when passing on information to the government should in the future no longer have to expect an immediate sanction, such as the reduction of an allowance or benefit. This is the opinion of D66 election candidate Hans Vijlbrief, who has developed a plan to this effect, as he announced at an event in Groningen. In his opinion, it is human to make mistakes, especially when the rules are complex, as is often the case with the government.

Vijlbrief, who is third on the D66 candidate list and currently still serves as State Secretary in the outgoing Cabinet, is concerned with Groningen. The problems there have prompted him to come up with this plan. In Groningen, residents are having a lot of trouble with damage to their homes from decades of gas extraction. The damage forms, for example, can be very complicated. Even a single mistake results in compensation not being granted and people having to start an opposition procedure.

The D66 member points out that private parties such as companies first send their customers a reminder if, for example, an invoice has not yet been paid. In the public sector, he believes that something like this should also happen when a first mistake is made. If people are given a "right to make a mistake," it can still be corrected and it does not need such major consequences, the social liberal said.

In recent years, thousands of people have gotten into big trouble because they had to pay back large amounts of childcare benefits. This often happened after they had sometimes made small mistakes when applying. The tax authorities did not care and, years later, reclaimed all the benefits that had been approved. The Tweede Kamer is investigating the fraudulent policy that was pursued. The previous Cabinet fell over the benefits affair.