“The municipalities have sufficiently compensated WMO’s own contribution”

Measurements

If the third subscription rate monitor for 2020 shows that the use of WMO facilities is greater than expected and that the municipalities are facing financial and substantive difficulties, then “we must take measures, substantive or financial, “according to Minister De Young’s spokesperson. . This was agreed with the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG) when the Wmo subscription rate was introduced, and this agreement is still in effect. This new monitor will be released one of these days. The independent personal contribution of income (the Wmo subscription rate) was introduced in 2019 for personalized provisions and in 2020 for general provisions.

Long waiting lists

With this, Minister De Jonge responds to the measures taken by various municipalities to at least limit access to domestic help, in particular for middle-income to high-income residents, for whom National governance recently reported. Since the introduction of the Wmo subscription tariff, the number of requests for this group among this group has increased significantly, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands. Municipalities say many of these people used to pay themselves for help, but now look to the municipality for it because it is much cheaper. The personal contribution for a Wmo service is a maximum of 19 euros per month. This measure created a long waiting list for domestic help in Amsterdam, among others, and significant shortages. A number of municipalities take income into account when applying for domestic help, while other municipalities make a moral appeal to residents to pay the aid themselves, if they can.

Jurisdiction

These municipalities declare that the WMO 2015 does allow income to be taken into account. If someone can pay for the help themselves, he or she is sufficiently self-sufficient. In this case, the municipality does not have to organize and pay for the provisions, they reason. De Jonge resolutely rejects this argument. “The law leaves no room to classify the level of income or wealth of residents under the concept of ‘own power’. The implementation of the revenue policy is and will remain the responsibility of the State. This principle has been confirmed several times in case law, ”said De Jonge’s spokesperson. The municipalities argue that this case law has now become obsolete, because the judgments date from before the introduction of the subscription rate at the WMO.

avoid care

The ministry believes that care and support should be affordable for everyone. “This is why this cabinet has taken a series of measures to limit the accumulation of health spending. One of these measures was the subscription fee. In addition, the measure has contributed to the simplification of the system and the administrative burden for all parties involved. “We also see in the multi-year subscription rate monitor that customers are happy with this metric,” De Jonge said via his spokesperson. From research by National governance and Elke (in) in early 2016 showed that a quarter of the Dutch were not receiving aid at the time due to the high personal contributions they had to pay for WMO provisions. This article gave rise, among other things, to parliamentary questions and to debate in the House. The Rutte III cabinet introduced the subscription rate, well against the will of the municipalities.

Loss of income

De Jonge also rejects the municipalities’ complaint that they are insufficiently compensated by the government for both the pull effect and the loss of revenue. At the time of the coalition agreement, the costs of setting up the OMM subscription tariff were estimated by the Central Planning Bureau (CPB) at 290 million euros. Since the Monitor for 2020 released last fall, the costs associated with the introduction of the Wmo subscription tariff have remained well below € 229 million. “The municipalities have therefore been sufficiently compensated.

Formal response

Leusden and Krimpen aan den IJssel must stop taking De Jonge’s income into account. Otherwise, he threatens to present the decisions of these municipalities to the Crown for annulment. The two municipalities are ignoring this requirement, they recently said. National governance. The ministry is still awaiting a formal response from the two municipalities. “On that basis, we determine what to do next,” De Jonge spokesperson said.