Childcare benefits scandal

The childcare benefits scandal (Dutch: kinderopvangtoeslagaffaire or toeslagenaffaire, lit. '[childcare] allowances affair') is a political scandal in the Netherlands about false accusations of fraud made by the Tax and Customs Administration. Between 2013 and at least 2019, about 26,000 parents in the Netherlands were wrongfully suspected of making fraud claims to childcare benefit and were required to pay back large amounts of money.^[1]

The scandal was brought to the public's attention in September 2018.^[2] In 2019, the Dutch State Secretary for Finance Menno Snel resigned over his mishandling of the affair.^[3]

In January 2021, Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Eric Wiebes stepped down, for his former role as State Secretary for Finance.^[3] The same day, two months before the 2021 Dutch general election, the prime minister Mark Rutte and his cabinet resigned after a parliamentary investigation released a report on the affair.^[3][4]

1. ↑ Klein, Pieter (14 December 2019). "Toeslagenaffaire: Belastingdienst zat ouders veel langer dwars" (in Dutch). RTL Nieuws. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
2. ↑ "Kinderopvangtoeslagverhoren klaar: hoe de alarmbellen nooit werden gehoord" (in Dutch). NOS. 26 November 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Lievisse Adriaans, Mark (15 January 2021). "Kabinet-Rutte III gevallen om Toeslagenaffaire" (in Dutch). NRC. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
4. ↑ "Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his entire Cabinet resign over child welfare scandal". Retrieved 17 January 2021.