‘Judges judge themselves harshly in the allowances case’

The judges are highly critical of the way they dealt with parents who got into trouble because of the childcare allowance. This is written by AD which has a research report from the profession.

A panel of judges considered nearly all of the 17,000 benefits cases brought to administrative judges between 2010 and 2019. The conclusion is that most judges blindly followed the tax authorities’ approach, even though they did not feel comfortable with it.

Interpretation of “all or nothing”

For example, the majority of judges followed the “all or nothing” interpretation of the rules by the State Council, according to the report. Bringing justice in court. Parents sometimes had to pay off tens of thousands of euros when they owed only a small amount.

The report contains an example of parents who had to repay their advance in full of €27,554 in 2015, because they did not pay the €77.32. The Central Netherlands District Court stated at the time that “this sum owed, however small, in light of the case law of the Administrative Judicial Division of the State Council, is sufficient to recover the full childcare allowance”.

Recommendations

The researchers wrote that judges should be more sympathetic to citizens and rely more on their sense of justice. Courts also need to communicate better with each other.

The Judicial Council tells AD that the report will be officially published at the end of next week and does not want to respond objectively until then.