Thousands of youngsters may have been wrongly given invalidity benefits or not paid the benefits they are entitled to, according to joint research by current affairs show EenVandaag and the AD.

In September it emerged that tens of thousands of adults with disabilities or chronic illness have been given the wrong amount of WIA benefit, but now it seems the problem may also have affected younger claimants.

The mistakes relate to Wajong benefits, paid to youngsters who are unable to work through ill health. Some 228,000 young adults are currently receiving Wajong payments.

A spot check of 110 files on Wajong claimants showed that 58% had been assessed correctly. In 10% of the files mistakes were made and the rest require further research, the newspaper said.

“These sorts of percentages should set off alarm bells,” a UWV staffer told the AD. “This means that youngsters who are ill or unable to work through disability may be missing out on income, are getting the wrong amount or have been wrongly assessed.”

In September, when the problem first became public, the UWV said that in principle people who are paid too much in error do not have to repay the cash. But people who should have known the amount was wrong will be carefully checked, a spokesman said.

WIA benefits are based on 70% of last earned salary up to a maximum of € 282.95 a day, but are subject to a complex calculation based on how fit the claimant is. Wajong is based on 70% of the age-dependent youth minimum wage.

Some 810,000 people in the Netherlands are claiming some sort of incapacity benefit and the majority are receiving WIA.

Social affairs minister Eddy van Hijum is due to make a statement on the problems later this week.