Former members of parliament claimed a total of €12m in unemployment benefits in 2011, 2012 and 2013, home affairs minister Ronald Plasterk has said in answer to MPs’ questions.

Former ministers and junior ministers without work were given €2m in jobless benefits. By the end of 2013, 67 former MPs and 19 former ministers – most of whom lost their jobs in the 2012 general elections – were still claiming benefits.

On average, in 2012 it took 145 days for a former MP to find a job, Plasterk said. There are no similar figures for ministers because at that time they were not required to look for work in order to get benefits.

Reduced

Former MPs can claim special unemployment benefits known as wachtgeld for up to three years and two months. They can claim up to 80% of their salary of around €7,000 a month for the first year, followed by 70% for the remaining period.

Former ministers can claim the benefit for four years. Research by Nos television last year showed one in four politicians thought finding a new job was made harder by having been an MP.

A majority of MPs recently voted in favour of cutting unemployment benefit for ordinary workers to two years. The payout is fixed at 70% of last earned salary, with a salary ceiling of around €4,400 a month.