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Budgets and
Benefits that may be claimed from the Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB)
(Notes prepared by
the AAOF)
Please
read our Disclaimer
Certain budgets
and benefits that can help with looking after a special needs child
or adult may be claimed from the Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB).
The forms and procedures
that must be gone through in order to claim these budgets can be quite
daunting and complicated and it is recommended that you approach an
organisation such as the SPD (the Sociaal Pedagogische Dienst ) to
help you through the procedure. Not only will they be able to help
you understand the form and the procedures involved – but they
also have experience of how exactly one must fill out the form and
know the right words to use in a request for help – for instance
you won’t get help for “extra teaching” at school or
in the home – but you will for “extra begeleiding”
(or ‘help’). It is vitally important to know HOW to fill
the forms in!
The PGB
Personal Budget
A PGB personal budget
enables individuals to buy the care and services that their child
needs themselves and decide themselves how, when and by whom, the
care is provided. Care and services can take the form of that given
by recognised medical professionals (in which case the money is paid
directly to the professionals involved) or less formal care such as
respite or regular child care (in which case the Budget Holder administers
the monies).
The central administration
point for the PGB for the whole of the Netherlands is located in Utrecht:
Kantoor PGB
Postbus 8064
3503 RB Utrecht
Information telephone line: 030 264 80 00
In order to help
understand the complicated procedures involved, the account below
is taken from a personal experience of applying for the PGB budget:
- Contact
the SPD and arrange for a home visit to discuss what help you need
and what is available.
- The SPD
Social Worker will help you to fill in a very large form which will
then be sent to the RIO (Regionaal Indicatie Orgaan) / Regional
LGIC (Landelijk Centrum Indicatiestelling Gehandicaptenzorg) which
is the national body that assesses help to be given to the handicapped.
The address for Zuid-Holland is as follows:
LCIG Zuid-Holland
Postbus 272
3100 AG Schiedam
Tel: 010 204 0160 Fax: 010 204 0161
E-mail: post@zuidholland.lcig.nl
It is important that
you send as much relevant information as possible with the form,
over-estimating rather than under-estimating the amount of help
required, as it will decide how much money you get.
For instance, you would
like one or two hours specialist help per week to help with social
integration/behaviour modifiction - you should therefore ask for
example 12 hours, to be divided between at school and at home. The
likelihood is that you will get money for 8hrs, or even, 12 hrs,
but probably at a lower rate than the specialist is asking. Therefore,
by asking for more than you need, you will ensure that there is
sufficient money in the "fund" to be able to pay this
worker. Plus, should you wish to increase the hours because the
therapy is going well, you will not then need to re-apply, saving
a lot of time and hassle. Any money that is not 'spent' will revert
back to the 'Zorgkantoor' (see below), who holds the money, so it
is not fraudulent, but playing the system.
- The LCIG
will decide if you are eligible for any monies, and for how much.
They will then refer you to the local Zorgkantoor. For Zuid-Holland
Noord this is in Leiden (tel 071-5825942).
- The Zorgkantoor will confirm
your budget, and you will deal directly with them from now on. They
will have received information from the LCIG, and any additional
information and/or corrections can be added at this point.
Monies can be paid in
two ways:
(i) In “Natura”
– which means that the monies are paid directly to the carer.
This is very useful if you have to pay large amounts for residential
schooling for example – or if you cannot deal with the administration
side – but it also means that you have no flexibility to use
the money how you want.
(ii) PGB monies –
this is where you become the administrator of the monies and buy
in whatever help you want regardless of what you have officially
got the money for. This suits most people as you can then buy in
occupational therapy, remedial teaching or whatever. However the
declaration (bill) will need to state that the help being given
is that to support or assist the child in vague terms, and not the
exact therapy being given, because remedial teaching is not covered
by the PGB and occupational therapy should be classified under you
health care scheme etc. It is therefore necessary to be able to
know how to 'play' the system.
It is also possible
to ask for the monies to be split into 2 parts: one part to be paid
"in natura" – so that large bills to an institution
for example can be paid direct, and the rest of the monies can then
be paid directly to you to administer as you want as PGB.
- If you choose to administer
your own monies as a PGB budget you will have to go through the
following procedures:
- In order to be able to buy your "zorg" (care), and
will need to register the specialist(s) or carer(s) you are
using. In order to do this, you will be given special Care Contract
Application Forms (which are available in English) - different
copies of the forms need to be filled out depending on what
type of care you want.
- In order to claim the
monies you personally must have a Sofi (or tax) number. A Sofi
number can be obtained from your local tax office – although
you will have to go along in person to obtain it.
- The child needing the
care also has to have a Sofi no. In The Netherlands a child
is sent a Sofi number, via the post, when they are 10 years
of age – so if your child is younger than that – then
you will have to ask for a Sofi number for them from your local
tax office.
- Once 'registered', by means
of the Care Contract Application Forms, you can now start employing
people. A lump sum will be paid into your bank account and you will
pay the bills yourself – whilst keeping a good track on the
administration! Any money left over at the end of the contract year
goes back into the central system – but you are allowed to
keep 10% of the left-over budget to go over into the next year.
It is extremely
important to remember that the system is very complicated and it is
highly recommended that help is sought (ie from the SPD). Not only
can they help you get the best from the system – but they can
help advise you of changes which are constantly taking place (for
instance, up until very recently the PGB bills were not paid for out
of a lump sum by the parent or carer personally, but were sent to
the PGB in Utrecht for payment). It is also understood that the forms
have changed over the Summer 2003.
As this is a very
complicated procedure and also one that is constantly changing –
the AAOF would appreciate any comments – especially any amendments
that you might have to this document. Please send your comments to
mail@aaof.info.
The TOG
Care Allowance (Tegemoetkoming Onderhoudskosten Thuiswonende Gehandicapte
Kinderen)
The TOG care allowance
is intended to help people with the expenses of looking after a handicapped
child at home.
To qualify for a
TOG care allowance, you must live in the Netherlands and be the parent
or carer of a handicapped child who is at least 3 and no older than
18. A child is considered to be handicapped for the purposes of the
TOG scheme if he or she:
- has a physical or mental
illness or disorder, and
- this causes restrictions (the
handicap), and
- these restrictions result
in the child being clearly more dependent on care, assistance and
supervision than a healthy child of the same age.
To apply for a TOG
care allowance, contact the TOG department of the SVB office in Roermond:
Sociale Verzekeringsbank
Roermond Office
Laurentiusplein 8
Postbus 1244
6040 KE Roermond
Tel: 0475 36 80 00
For TOG tel: 0475 36 80 40
If you go to the
webpage of the SVB on www.svb.org and access the site in English –
it is possible to download a leaflet on TOG in English.
Please
read our Disclaimer
Any further enquiries, or a request
to be added to our mailing list, can be directed to
mail@aaof.info
.
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