Please note: The algorithm descriptions in English have been automatically translated. Errors may have been introduced in this process. For the original descriptions, go to the Dutch version of the Algorithm Register.
Filtering on signal ability enforcement income support
- Publication category
- Impactful algorithms
- Impact assessment
- Field not filled in.
- Status
- In use
General information
Theme
Begin date
Contact information
Responsible use
Goal and impact
The purpose of the algorithm is to support the enforcement of the Participation Act and, as much as possible, prevent residents from being unduly checked. Manually checking everyone is neither possible nor desirable, as checks have a very high impact on residents. The filter helps look for explanations of excessive assets. So the impact on citizens is both high and low: it prevents unnecessary checks. These checks have a lot of impact. So the municipality wants to minimise them unnecessarily, but continue to enforce them.
Considerations
The advantage of using the filters is that only those people are investigated where excessive equity cannot be explained in any other reasonable way. This saves a lot of time for the enforcement department. In addition, it means that not all files of residents with income support need to be looked at and a large group of residents do not have to provide evidence for their increased and high equity.
The downside is that someone may still not be investigated who should be investigated anyway. The municipality accepts that.
Human intervention
After filtering, file research is used to check whether a resident with excessive assets has already reported this himself.
If no explanation can be found for excessive assets, the resident in question is asked to provide information and cooperate in the investigation. This is done through a special (enforcement) investigation into entitlement to benefits under the Participation Act. A letter is sent to residents asking how the increase in the balance occurred. Evidence for this can be, for example, compensation or inheritance. If there is no response to this, they are then asked for bank details for the past year. A resident is always invited for an interview before anything changes to the benefit.
Risk management
Each investigation follows the four-eye principle, which means that two officials are always involved. In addition, quality officers from the municipality randomly check closed files.
Residents who do end up receiving less or no benefits as a result of this process can always appeal this decision.
This work process was also submitted to the municipality's Data and Technology Ethics Committee in November 2023, which advised on it. This opinion can be read back on the website of the Groningen municipality's ethics committee.
The deployment of this filtering will be further investigated and evaluated.
Legal basis
The Participation Act regulates that the municipality is responsible for income support (assistance) when there is no own income or this income is not sufficient. However, conditions are attached to this. The Act also stipulates that it is the municipality's duty to enforce that a benefit is rightly provided. For this case, sections 8c, 53a and 54 are particularly important. One of the conditions is that you should not have too much of your own (increased) assets.
Links to legal bases
Operations
Data
Active benefits from previous year, legal ceiling assets, administrator, assets. The amount of assets the municipality receives through the Intelligence Bureau, which receives these data from the Tax Office.
Links to data sources
Technical design
Every year, the municipality receives hundreds of signals about assets from residents receiving income support. It is not possible to check all these signals manually. Therefore, filtering or selection is used. The filtering is not done automatically. However, the filters used are very easy to translate into rules for an algorithm (if... then...).
The municipality sends a list of citizen service numbers (BSNs) of residents receiving benefit support to the Inlichtingenbureau Foundation. The Inlichtingenbureau retrieves information from the Tax Office about assets based on the BSNs provided by the municipality. It then automatically checks which BSN has assets higher than legally permitted. These are signals. These are collected in an Excel list with the amount of assets of a resident receiving income support linked to the docket numbers, as residents are displayed in the benefit system. The list returned to the municipality no longer contains BSNs, nor names or address details.
The municipality then applies filtering to this. Some examples of filters used are that people under administration are excluded, as administrators already have to report major financial changes. It also takes into account, for example, the energy allowance paid in 2022 and what can reasonably be saved on social assistance benefit.
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