Analysing the proposals of the Advisory Committee on Disability ('Donner II')

The central idea of the advice is to restrict access to the Dutch disability scheme to those who are fully and irreversibly disabled. Partially disabled persons are supposed to reintegrate to suitable jobs as much as possible, and both employers and employees get new rights and obligations to make this happen.

The analysis shows that the effect on the total volume of beneficiaries is not at all clear. A decisive factor will be the exact formulation of the disability criterion, which is not given in the advice, and its strict implementation. If the new criterion successfully discriminates between people who are fully and irreversibly disabled and those who can return to the labour market, then financial incentives and reintegration measures can be applied more effectively.

Another open question is whether the new instruments to curb the number of beneficiaries are actually going to be used in individual companies, and what supplementary decentralised agreements will be made regarding benefit levels and conditions. More clarity is needed on these issues before a reasonable assessment can be made of the effects of the proposals.

This publication is in Dutch.