The new cabinet’s plans will not improve the financial security of people on low incomes in the long term, according to family spending institute Nibud.

People on low incomes, who are set to profit from higher social security benefits, will be better off in the short term but this is not a solid basis for longer-term security, Nibud said in its analysis of the new government’s coalition agreement.

Nibud said the new government’s plans were not specific enough to come up with a detailed calculation but that low incomes would profit by some €20 or €30 a month while the tax breaks would give middle incomes €40 a month more to spend.

Benefits can also lead to more problems for households, Nibud director Arjan Vliegenthart said. “People don’t know they exist, they have trouble applying for them or are afraid to because of the benefits scandal,” he said.

“It would be much better to overhaul the whole benefit system. You may help people here and now but you are only maintaining a system that doesn’t work and making it even more difficult to change,” Vliegenthart said.

The plan to limit the own risk element in health insurance would not have a great impact on low income households either because premiums would rise instead, Vliegenthart said.

Nibud is calling on the new cabinet, which has been charged with working out the plans in detail, to take the impact on financial security into account across the board.