CWS Termination: End of Administrative Law Damage Route and Inflation Gap

Executive Summary

On 27 February 2026, the Ministry of Finance terminated the Commissie Werkelijke Schade (CWS), the only administrative law route through which victims could have their actual damages individually assessed. Approximately 9,000 parents remained in the queue. The replacement — two routes offering fixed forfaitary amounts closed with settlement agreements (VSO) — eliminates individual assessment, bars appeals, and excludes further claims. None of the compensation amounts established in 2020-2021 have been indexed for inflation.

What Happened

The Catshuis agreement (December 2020) set the forfaitary €30,000. The CWS began processing above-forfait claims in 2022-2023, using individual bandwidths per case. By February 2026, approximately 19,000 total applications had been submitted; only ~3,300 had been compensated.

On 27 February 2026, the CWS website announced that the Ministry of Finance had decided the CWS would no longer accept new cases. CWS chairman Jan van den Bos publicly regretted the decision on 12 March 2026, stating the commission found it unfortunate that its capacity was not being used to help parents.

Staatssecretaris Palmen confirmed in her Kamerbrief of 16 March 2026 that she personally ordered the termination: “The CWS has not accepted new cases since the end of February 2026, at my request.” The statutory deadline for supplementary damage claims was set at 31 March 2026.

Evidence

The replacement system — Stichting (Gelijk)waardig Herstel (SGH) and MijnHerstel — offers 29 damage categories across 5 life domains, all with fixed forfaitary amounts. The Handleiding Schadekader MijnHerstel (23 December 2025) states on page 1: “Prepared by: Ministerie van Financiën, DG Herstelbeleid” — the same ministry responsible for the Tax and Customs Administration that caused the injustice. The amounts are not publicly published; they are only visible after DigiD login.

The website confirms that both routes conclude with a VSO against which no objection is possible. It also states: “Statutory interest has been incorporated into the fixed amounts” — meaning victims cannot verify whether the calculation is correct.

Cumulative inflation from 2020 to 2026 is approximately 28%, meaning the €30,000 forfait has lost about €6,600 in purchasing power. No parliamentary questions about indexation were found.

Analysis

The termination represents a fundamental legal shift from administrative law to private law. The CWS route offered individual assessment with appeal rights before the ABRvS. The VSO is a private contract with no appeal, closing all further claims. This implements the BCG simplification proposal from 2020 (Rapport 12): abandon individual assessment in favor of speed and forfaitary amounts. The administrative fallback (a formal decision) is actively discouraged with warnings it may yield lower amounts. The civil route is practically unreachable: no funded legal aid, destroyed evidence (~9,000 files), and a restrained court (4.6% compensation in the first ruling). The combination eliminates all effective remedies for the vast majority of victims.

Sources

• CWS termination announcement: werkelijkeschade.nl (27 February 2026)
• CWS chairman statement: werkelijkeschade.nl (12 March 2026)
• Kamerbrief staatssecretaris Palmen: open.overheid.nl (16 March 2026)
• Schadeherstel Toeslagen portal: schadeherstel.toeslagen.nl
• Handleiding Schadekader MijnHerstel: Ministerie van Financiën, DG Herstelbeleid (23 December 2025)
• SGH: gelijkwaardigherstel.nl
• Raad van State reflectierapport (November 2021)
• Rapporten 1, 3, 7, 10, 12, 13 — Onderzoek Toeslagenaffaire in het Algemeen Belang