The out­going Dutch government is exploring options for in­creasing financial support to large families in Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba (BES islands), following a recent evaluation of the Child Ben­efit Provision (Kinderbi­jslagvoorziening BES).

A final decision on any ad­ditional support will be made by the next administration, wrote caretaker State Sec­retary for Social Affairs and Employment, Jurgen Nobel, in a letter to Parliament.

Since 2016, parents in the BES islands have received child benefit payments that are independent of income. However, the recent evalu­ation shows the current amounts fall short — covering only 23 to 52% of the actual costs on average. The sup­port is especially inadequate for large families and those with older children. The re­port also highlighted that parents with a migration background make limited use of the scheme.

“Based on these findings, the researchers recommend focussing support more specifically on vulnerable groups,” Nobel wrote. “This includes considering an ad­ditional income-based allow­ance for large families and those with older children.” The evaluation also advised improving accessibility by investing in multilingual and user-friendly information campaigns through low-threshold channels such as schools, health clinics, and community centres.

Nobel pledged to send the Dutch Parliament further information before the sum­mer recess on potential op­tions for an income-related child benefit scheme. In January, the House of Rep­resentatives adopted a mo­tion from socialist coalition party GroenLinks-PvdA, the Socialist Party (SP), Demo­crats ’66 (D66), and right-wing ChristenUnie, calling for such a supplementary measure.

“It will be up to the next cabinet to determine, based on this evaluation and the broader periodic report, whether policy adjustments are needed,” Nobel stated. Despite criticism of the cur­rent benefit amounts, the researchers also found posi­tive results. Most parents expressed satisfaction with the services provided by the Social Affairs and Employ­ment Department of the National Office for the Car­ibbean Netherlands (RCN). Both parents and profession­als agreed that the benefit contributes to family stability and participation in social activities.

“As such, the scheme indi­rectly supports social sus­tainability and community resilience,” the researchers concluded.

The Daily Herald.