{"id":958,"date":"2026-03-09T16:55:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T15:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/comland.com\/social-benefits-in-the-netherlands\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T13:48:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T12:48:05","slug":"social-benefits-in-the-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comland.com\/en\/social-benefits-in-the-netherlands\/","title":{"rendered":"Social benefits in the Netherlands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=\"https:\/\/comland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/06-use-case-Nizozemska-social-rights-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-398\" style=\"width:911px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/comland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/06-use-case-Nizozemska-social-rights-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/comland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/06-use-case-Nizozemska-social-rights-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/comland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/06-use-case-Nizozemska-social-rights-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/comland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/06-use-case-Nizozemska-social-rights-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/comland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/06-use-case-Nizozemska-social-rights-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/comland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/06-use-case-Nizozemska-social-rights-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The child benefits scandal in the Netherlands<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A highly publicised case from 2021 is the so-called child benefits scandal (&#8220;toeslagenaffaire&#8221;). For years, the Tax Administration used a <strong>fraud-detection algorithm<\/strong> that, based on patterns and indirect personal circumstances, <strong>mass-labelled families as high-risk.<\/strong>   <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What went wrong<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong>tool<\/strong>, intended to guide experts towards analysis and a more detailed review of a family\u2019s situation, <strong>began to be used for decision-making<\/strong> about people\u2019s entitlements. What was meant as support for oversight became, in practice, automated decision-making without expert judgement\u2014resulting in unjustified sanctions and severe social consequences for tens of thousands of families. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why the Netherlands is considered a reference point today<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because of the systemic changes that followed. They established a rule that an algorithm must not directly determine an individual\u2019s entitlements; at the same time, they published a public register of algorithms used by the public administration, introduced impact assessments, and more. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Could AI be used for such a case today?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Yes\u2014but only very thoughtfully and under strict oversight. A review of practice shows that AI-first systems are best introduced:  <\/em><\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>From pilot solutions on real data to broader deployment. <\/strong>Today, pilot solutions do not test whether the technology can cover the use case; they test whether the technology is aligned with the use case. Sometimes you simply need to try\u2014in a limited scope, with real data. And, if at all possible, with measurement.   <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>In teams that treat responsibility as an opportunity.<\/strong> Awareness of responsibility in the use of AI is crucial for the long-term success of the society we share. Once data leaks, you cannot get it back. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The AI Act and all related legislation may (still) not have reached a sufficient level of practicality and digestibility, but it has its purpose. Attention in this area is essential if we want to live well in the long run. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The history of AI use in the area of social benefits is full of examples of good intentions with catastrophic effects. The Netherlands is certainly among the countries that today most consciously build on learning from practice\u2014both bad and good examples. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai-in-practice"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Social benefits in the Netherlands - Comland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A highly publicised case from 2021 is the &quot;child benefits scandal&quot;\u2014the Tax Administration used a fraud-detection algorithm for years.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/comland.com\/en\/social-benefits-in-the-netherlands\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Social benefits in the Netherlands - Comland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A highly publicised case from 2021 is the &quot;child benefits scandal&quot;\u2014the Tax Administration used a fraud-detection algorithm for years.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/comland.com\/en\/social-benefits-in-the-netherlands\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Comland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-09T15:55:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-02T12:48:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/comland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/06-use-case-Nizozemska-social-rights-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"doriscnj\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"doriscnj\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/comland.com\\\/en\\\/social-benefits-in-the-netherlands\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/comland.com\\\/en\\\/social-benefits-in-the-netherlands\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"doriscnj\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/comland.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f9e68c98d40a39e3475665dcc3104150\"},\"headline\":\"Social benefits in the Netherlands\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-09T15:55:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-02T12:48:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/comland.com\\\/en\\\/social-benefits-in-the-netherlands\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":315,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/comland.com\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/comland.com\\\/en\\\/social-benefits-in-the-netherlands\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/comland.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/06-use-case-Nizozemska-social-rights-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"AI in Practice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/comland.com\\\/en\\\/social-benefits-in-the-netherlands\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/comland.com\\\/en\\\/social-benefits-in-the-netherlands\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/comland.com\\\/en\\\/social-benefits-in-the-netherlands\\\/\",\"name\":\"Social benefits in the Netherlands - 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