Who gets sick and needs a medical examination for benefits has to wait longer and longer. Benefits agency UWV cannot find enough doctors, while the number of sick workers is increasing. “We’re simply stuck,” says a UWV spokesperson.
According to a forecast, there will be 100,000 people waiting in 2027, reports outgoing minister Eddy van Hijum (Social Affairs and Employment). That is more than three times the 29,000 people currently on a waiting list. Van Hijum is “very concerned”.
“The legal deadline for an assessment is eight weeks, but we won’t meet that for a few years,” says a UWV spokesperson. “We are now aiming to see people within sixteen weeks. It won’t be long before this deadline also becomes unfeasible.”
The longer waiting lists have a number of causes. For example, there are more and more workers and people are working longer. As a result, more employees drop out, who then turn to the UWV.
Furthermore, not enough doctors can be found for the work that needs to be done. The UWV will no longer hire independent doctors. The current freelancers do about 20 percent of the assessments. The benefits agency has offered them a permanent contract. Annually, a hundred doctors leave the UWV “due to, among other things, retirement or other natural attrition”.
Quick assessment of the elderly is coming back
In addition, the UWV is very busy with various recovery operations. For example, the organization has to check 43,000 WIA files for errors, after various calculation errors were discovered.
Van Hijum mentions a number of measures to alleviate the work somewhat. For example, people over sixty will receive a simpler assessment from September. That rule also applied earlier, but the outgoing minister abolished it last year. Furthermore, people who receive an advance while awaiting a decision no longer have to repay that money.
The Dutch disability system has become too complex, both for people who drop out and for implementing organizations such as the UWV. Together with the Social Insurance Bank, the UWV recently issued a call to policymakers to think along about the policy.