Algorithms relating to fines and administrative sanctions
Under the schemes for AOW pension, Anw survivor benefit, Remigration benefit, AIO supplement (income support for people of AOW pension age) and child benefit, we sometimes need to impose a fine or, in minor cases of non-compliance, an administrative sanction. For example if you do not report a change in your situation to us in time.
A decision tool allows our staff to determine whether they should give a client a fine or an administrative sanction. It also helps them determine how much the fine or administrative sanction should be. The following facts are taken into account:
- how much you were overpaid
- how long the overpayments continued
- the date that we received notice of the change in your situation
- the date by which the change should have been reported to us
Getting a fine or administrative sanction can affect you financially. The emotional consequences may also be worse than having to repay the amount overpaid. A fine or administrative sanction may also lead to problems related to how you make the repayment. People often get into debt.
Algorithms help us with difficult decisions involving a number of different aspects. Fewer mistakes are made as a result. The system treats everyone in the same situation in the same way.
The rules and legislation governing each of our pension and benefit schemes have been converted into a set of questions. The algorithms go through a question set step by step to arrive at a correct decision. The questions are filled with automated data from our files and non-automated information from our case workers. There is also room for case workers to make their own decisions. The case worker concerned enters the final decision into our payment system.
Our algorithms are prescriptive. This means decisions are taken automatically. We check the algorithms and make any necessary improvements. They cannot do this themselves.
Our main source of data is the data we have for you in our files.