A new experiment to help poor families with extra cash has kicked off in Zaanstad  and will start up in Amsterdam and Tilburg later this year.

In total, 600 families on minimum incomes will get €150 a month extra for two years, no strings attached, so researchers can assess what impact it has on their lives. The project, funded indirectly by the Postcodeloterij, is based on similar experiments in the US, Canada and Scandinavian countries. 

€150 is the maximum that families living on welfare can accept without their benefits being cut. 

According to the government’s socio-cultural think-tank SCP, some 800,000 people in the Netherlands live in poverty, including some 200,000 children. 

“People living in poverty know best what they should spend the money on,” said Bas Pieck from the Kansfonds, which is administering the project. “If you are short of money every month, you need to tackle that first. So there is no point in trying to change people’s behaviour with coaches and job interview tips.”

Mirre Stallen, from Amsterdam’s hbo college, is leading the project on the research side. She told broadcaster NOS council officials and aid groups are already assuming there will be all sorts of positive effects, “as we have seen in some of the foreign research”. 

“But the Dutch situation, with its generous social security system, is unique,” she said. “We will have to wait to find out what the extra money means in the long term.”

Two other projects aimed at helping poor families who are in debt are also underway in the Netherlands. 

Arnhem city council is to clear the debts of some 40 to 60 families who live in the city’s poorest neighbourhood in a two-year trial to “break the toxic spiral of poverty”. And in Rotterdam, one of the Netherlands’ wealthiest families is to pay off the debts of 1,000 families a year, via its network of charities, “help people get their lives back on track”.

Basic welfare in the Netherlands, excluding housing, healthcare and childcare benefits, is €1,283 for a single person last year and €1,934 for a couple.