Utrecht city council is to retain its own rules for dealing with youngsters who make welfare claims to remove the difference between the under-27s and older claimants.

By law youngsters have to spend a month looking for work or training without any financial support before they can make a claim for bijstand. Nor are they allowed to keep all their welfare benefits if they find a small part-time job. The rules do not apply to people once they hit 27.

Utrecht scrapped age-related measures in 2022 and welfare chief Linda Voortman told the Volkskrant that officials have decided to remove them permanently. The move will stop youngsters feeling that they have been abandoned and help to retain their trust in government, she said.

Fears that the number of youngsters making claims would increase have not materialised, she said. ‘We do not have the impression that youngsters are claiming welfare en masse, when they don’t need it,’ she said.

Nevertheless, the paper points out, the number of youngsters claiming welfare benefits in Utrecht rose 15% last year, while there was a 4% drop across the Netherlands as a whole.

Welfare for youngsters is the last port of call, Voortman said. ‘They are unable to find a job even in the current tight jobs market.’ Complex problems, such as Long Covid, are also playing a part, she said.

The government was not happy when Utrecht unilaterally introduced the changes last year, but Carola Schouten, the minister for welfare, has said she plans to reform the current laws.