Social affairs minister Eddy van Hijum on Tuesday kicked off the process for reforming complicated and expensive Dutch disability legislation, citing the need to simplify the law.

However, as yet he has made no concrete proposals for reform, saying instead that he hoped to stimulate debate.

Last year it emerged that thousands of disability benefit claimants may have had too much or too little money for years, because of the complexity of the rules.

In the spring, a government commission had recommended an overhaul but left the choices up to “politicians”.

Hijum said in a briefing to MPs that action is urgent and that he plans to come up with measures “during this cabinet period”.

He mentioned a number of short-term options, one of which would be to end the division between long-term disability and people who may well recover. That would enable doctors to stop deciding how likely it is that someone would work again – a complicated assessment which has led to some of the current issues.

“Making things less complicated is not easy and there are no simple solutions,” Van Hijum said.

The minister, who represents the NSC in the cabinet, said he hoped to stimulate a political and societal discussion about the options, after which he will come forward with more detailed proposals.

Some 812,000 people are currently claiming some form of disability benefit in the Netherlands.