Emma (not her real name) wants to rebuild her life. She is ready for a fresh start. Emma became a victim of the benefits scandal. The impact of this situation on Emma is enormous. She lost her home, she lost everything. Every day she feels the consequences of this situation. She needs extra help to rebuild her life.

Broad help is available at every municipality, in addition to the compensation victims have received from the government. This ensures that people like Emma can truly take a step forward and move on with their lives. 

The next step

Emma is told by the case handler from the Tax Authorities that she can also apply for this help. When she contacts the municipality, she is told that this is not possible. Both by phone and at the counter, the message is the same. There is no possibility for broad help. This is confusing because every municipality should offer this help.

Confusion

Because Emma is not helped further by the municipality, the case handler decides to contact the municipality themselves to inquire about the possibilities. The answer remains the same: the municipality cannot help Emma further. Therefore, the handler proposes to file a complaint with the National Ombudsman in the hope that this will provide more clarity.

Delay in the process

Emma shares her story with us and explains the steps she has taken. We take the complaint into consideration and ask the municipality if broad help is available. The municipality then quickly responds. They indicate that extra help can indeed be offered to victims of the benefits scandal. For this application, a conversation is first needed with the employee who handles these requests. This employee was on vacation at the time this happened. Therefore, it took longer before contact was made with Emma. An appointment is made to talk with Emma. She is happy with this progress.

Clarity and care

Emmas story shows how important careful action is. Victims of the benefits scandal have been in contact with various agencies and trust in the government is low due to the situation. Several people were needed to provide clarity for Emma; this could have been handled differently. I hope that the municipality will look at questions around this topic with more care and priority in the future.

 

This column appeared in De Telegraaf on January 31, 2026. The person in the photo is not the person in the text.