Single Parents on Social Assistance

• Conclusions
• Recommendations
• Response and afterword

Conclusions

The Court of Audit concludes that the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment has not given adequate direction to the policy on single parents on social assistance benefit. Performance targets have not been agreed with municipalities concerning initiatives directed at this group of benefit claimants. Nor have arrangements been agreed with municipalities on how they are to reduce the imbalance in 2003 between the number of single parents and other benefit claimants who stop claiming benefit. Only for social assistance benefit claimants as a whole has the Minister agreed performance targets with municipalities on the number of people that should follow reintegration programmes and go back into employment.

The Minister of Social Affairs and Employment does not currently have sufficient reliable data on the results of the policy to get more single parents on benefit into work to enable him, if necessary, to fine-tune his policy. He has no information on how many single parents receive a suitable offer, follow a reintegration programme or start work. Attempts have been made in recent years to improve the provision of information, but no tangible improvements have been achieved to date.

The Court's audit reveals that, at the moment, single parents are less frequently placed on reintegration programmes than other benefit claimants. This is particularly true for single parents - primarily mothers - with children under the age of five. Although this group enjoys statutory exemption from the various requirements to seek and accept suitable work or training ('jobseekers' requirements'), the Minister's policy prescribes that they must also be given an appropriate offer. Another feature of the policy which is not being implemented sufficiently is that of holding interviews with single parents who have been dependent on social assistance for a long time. Arrangements should be agreed with the single parents concerned for them to follow a reintegration programme or be granted formal exemption from the jobseekers' requirements.

Only 19% of single parents on social assistance benefit have to meet all the jobseekers' requirements. Many are granted exemptions. These include formal exemptions (65%) as well as what are known as de facto exemptions (16%), i.e. cases in which the requirements are not actually enforced. Exemptions, both de facto and otherwise, are often granted because of medical and/or psychological problems. Not enough is being done to remedy these underlying problems (e.g. by involving health care professionals or providing other types of assistance).

The Court of Audit is convinced of the importance of fully implementing all aspects of the coherent approach, as a substantial number of single parents (57%) have not been in work or otherwise socially active for over three years.

Although they are not yet fully implementing all aspects of the coherent approach, the Court of Audit has found that municipalities attach great importance to getting benefit claimants to go into paid employment or become more socially active. As a result, almost two-thirds of single parents on social assistance benefit have received an offer from their municipality directed at employment or social participation. Around a quarter of single parents on benefit performed paid or voluntary work in October 2002. Whether they do so depends largely on the availability of childcare, their motivation and their education, and whether they suffer from social or medical problems.

The results in terms of the number of single parents who stopped claiming social assistance benefit are disappointing. Only 6% did so between July 2001 and October 2002 because they were earning sufficient money from work. Just as many stop claiming because they get married or start living with a partner.

Another stated aim was to reduce by 2003 the imbalance that existed in 2000 between the number of single parents and other benefit claimants who stop claiming benefit. The interim result for 2001 was positive. Although the number of people who stopped claiming benefit fell in both groups, the fall was less sharp among single parents than among other benefit claimants.

Up

Recommendations

With a view to the enactment of the Work and Social Assistance Bill, the Court of Audit would advise the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment to:

• Work out how he plans to exercise his responsibility for the regulatory system, financing and implementation. Specific attention should be paid to the extent to which he will be responsible for the effectiveness of policy and supervision.

• Identify the information he needs to formulate policy and supervise its implementation, draw up and allocate budgets, and fulfil his reporting obligations to the House of Representatives. As a basic principle, he should only ask the municipal authorities for the information he requires to supervise and direct the implementation of policy. This will ease their administrative burden as envisaged.

• Decide whether or not to single out specific target groups for special attention. If certain groups are to be targeted, he should set specific, measurable objectives.

Up

Response and afterword

In his response, the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment observes that the municipalities have made reasonable progress as they start to implement the coherent approach. He considers that the report offers a good opportunity to review policy on getting single parents on benefit into work and assess the sticking points that need to be resolved. The Minister notes further that there is no intention to treat single parents on benefit as a special target group. Central government aims to provide a framework within which municipalities enjoy a degree of freedom to decide at local level how to implement policy on getting single parents off benefit and into work.

The Court of Audit is surprised that the Minister should claim that he does not intend to pursue a specific policy with regard to single parents on benefit. The Policy Document on Work and Care of 2000 deals at length with such a policy. More recently, in the budget for 2003, a specific objective was set for this target group, namely to reduce by 2003 the imbalance that existed in 2000 between the number of single parents and other benefit claimants who stop claiming benefit.

In his letter, the Minister refers to a number of initiatives designed to improve the provision of information. The Court of Audit awaits the outcome of these initiatives with a degree of concern, in the light of what has been achieved on this point in recent years. The Court is gratified to note that the Minister intends to follow up its recommendations concerning the provision of information and the link between policy and implementation in the drafting and implementation of the Work and Social Assistance Bill.

In its response, the Association of Netherlands Municipalities observes that, for reasons of capacity, municipal authorities have had to prioritise, and that this is one of the main reasons why only two-thirds of single parents on social assistance benefit have received an offer directed at their employment or social participation to date. The Court of Audit believes that this is another example of central government policy that falls short of expectations due to lack of direction from central government and subsequent policy choices at the implementation stage.

Up