Rotterdam pushes for stronger national action on care fraud

ROTTERDAM, 22 September 2026 – Rotterdam is joining The Hague and Utrecht in calling for stronger national safeguards against care fraud, with the three cities arguing that local enforcement works better when rogue providers cannot simply move elsewhere. Rotterdam has already strengthened its own approach, while the national government has announced tougher screening and enforcement measures, and the cities now want key parts of that work introduced sooner and coordinated nationally.

Rotterdam is already tightening controls

Rotterdam has been strengthening its approach to care fraud since 2024, including prevention, investigations and enforcement around care funded through the Social Support Act (Wmo) and Youth Act. Residents can already report suspected fraud directly to the municipality, which publishes anonymised summaries of completed investigations where appropriate.

That local work matters because care fraud can mean more than incorrect paperwork or inflated invoices. Rotterdam lists examples such as providers delivering less care than was paid for, using false documents or gaining improper access to a client’s DigiD or bank card. The municipality says money lost through fraud ultimately leaves less available for people who genuinely need care and support.

The three cities are now focusing on what cannot easily be solved within municipal borders. Their concern is that a provider facing action in one municipality may be able to continue elsewhere, while new providers can still enter parts of the care system without one uniform national integrity check. The national government itself acknowledged in June that the current system does not yet provide an effective uniform test for all new and restarting providers.

Cities want stronger checks at entry

Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht are asking the national government to introduce consistent screening of new care providers and a uniform national framework for admission and licensing. Their aim is to stop problematic providers earlier, before public money is paid out or vulnerable clients become dependent on their services.

There is already movement at national level. In June, the cabinet announced a wider package against care fraud, including tougher checks on new and restarting providers, expanded use of the Bibob integrity screening system, more physical inspections and additional capacity for enforcement and investigations. Up to €50 million per year is being made available for the strengthened approach.

The point of disagreement is largely the pace and reach of those reforms. A planned bill introducing a more uniform test for new and restarting providers is currently expected to reach the House of Representatives in 2028. Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht argue that waiting that long leaves too much room for providers that exploit gaps between local systems.

Better information sharing could help

The municipalities are also asking for better access to information. Among their proposals is structural access for Wmo and Youth Act supervisors to Suwinet, the government data infrastructure used by public bodies to exchange information relevant to social-security tasks.

At present, using Suwinet specifically for fraud investigations under the Wmo and Youth Act is restricted. Rotterdam has previously argued that relevant information in the system could help municipal investigators identify suspicious patterns sooner.

The national government is already working on broader information-sharing rules between municipalities, insurers, care offices and investigative services. It has also said it wants more relevant police information to be shareable with partners tackling care fraud.

For the cities, the next step is to connect those separate measures into a system in which supervision, administrative enforcement and criminal investigations work more closely together. They also want providers found to have committed serious fraud to be excluded more consistently across the country rather than dealt with municipality by municipality.

National cooperation could close local gaps

The joint appeal comes against a wider national focus on organised crime entering legitimate sectors. The 2026 Dreigingsbeeld Ondermijning Nederland, the national threat assessment on undermining crime, identifies healthcare among the sectors vulnerable to criminal exploitation and argues that stronger prevention and resilience are needed.

That gives the Rotterdam initiative a more constructive direction than simply identifying another enforcement problem. Local investigations, national screening, better data sharing and clearer rules for excluding fraudulent providers are increasingly being developed as parts of the same system.

The Hague’s public statement on the joint proposal summarises the cities’ objective simply: people who need care should be able to rely on safe, reliable services, while care funding should reach the people it was intended to support.

For Rotterdam, the request to The Hague is therefore less about replacing its own care-fraud programme and more about giving local enforcement a national framework around it. If providers operate across municipal borders, the three cities argue that the safeguards around them ultimately need to do the same.