Assessing income support schemes

Residents eligible for income support typically have entitlements under several schemes at the same time. Because schemes influence each other through their outcomes — the result of one scheme is input to the next — assessment is not a straight line but a loop that updates itself until a stable outcome is reached.

This diagram captures the three ingredients of that loop — personal data, rules and assessment — and shows how three kinds of change re-activate it.

Conceptual diagram

flowchart TB
    classDef data    fill:#E6F1FB,stroke:#185FA5,color:#0C447C
    classDef rules   fill:#FAEEDA,stroke:#854F0B,color:#412402
    classDef assess  fill:#E1F5EE,stroke:#0F6E56,color:#04342C
    classDef result  fill:#EEEDFE,stroke:#534AB7,color:#26215C
    classDef stable  fill:#EAF3DE,stroke:#3B6D11,color:#173404
    classDef ch6a    fill:#FAECE7,stroke:#993C1D,color:#4A1B0C
    classDef ch6b    fill:#FAEEDA,stroke:#854F0B,color:#412402
    classDef ch6c    fill:#EEEDFE,stroke:#3C3489,color:#26215C

    subgraph CORE["Re-assessment loop"]
        direction TB
        PG["Personal data<br/><i>facts about the resident</i>"]:::data
        RG["Rules per scheme<br/><i>CPRMV</i>"]:::rules
        TS["Assessment against criteria<br/><i>DMN per scheme</i>"]:::assess
        AS["Entitlement / outcome<br/><i>per scheme</i>"]:::result
        WW{"Cross-scheme<br/>interaction?"}
        ST["Stable outcome"]:::stable

        PG --> TS
        RG --> TS
        TS --> AS
        AS --> WW
        WW -->|"yes — re-evaluate"| TS
        WW -->|no| ST
    end

    M1["6a · Personal data<br/>change"]:::ch6a -.->|trigger| PG
    M2["6b · Rule<br/>change"]:::ch6b -.->|trigger| RG
    M3["6c · Personal data<br/>correction<br/><i>retroactive</i>"]:::ch6c -.->|trigger| PG

Interactive walkthrough

Example chain: AOW → AIO → Bijzondere bijstand → Huurtoeslag → Heusdenpas.

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Components of the loop

1. Personal data

The facts about the resident on which assessment is based: age, household composition, income, assets, housing situation. Sources are BRP, SUWI/UWV, Belastingdienst, the housing register and the municipal administration. Personal data is the input to every assessment.

2. Rules (CPRMV)

Per scheme the applicable criteria, modelled as CPRMV and made executable as DMN. Each scheme — AOW, AIO, bijzondere bijstand, huurtoeslag, municipal schemes — has its own rule set with its own versions and validity periods.

3. Assessment, outcome and cross-scheme interaction

The assessment combines personal data with rules and produces an outcome per scheme (entitlement, amount, conditions). The critical point is cross-scheme interaction: the outcome of one scheme is typically input for the next. AOW determines whether AIO applies. AOW and AIO together determine the income used in the means tests for bijzondere bijstand, huurtoeslag and municipal schemes. A single assessment round is therefore rarely the end station; the loop runs until the outcome no longer changes.

4. Stable outcome

The state in which a next round yields the same outcomes. Only at that point can decisions be issued.

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Three change pathways

Changes always activate the same loop, but via different entry points.

Pathway	Entry point	Effect
6a · Personal data change	Personal data	All schemes that use the changed data as input are re-assessed. An income change in principle affects every income-dependent scheme.
6b · Rule change	Rules (CPRMV)	Only the affected scheme and the schemes that depend on its outcome downstream are re-assessed. Upstream schemes are unaffected.
6c · Personal data correction	Personal data	Like 6a, but retroactive. Earlier decisions are re-evaluated retrospectively; back-payments or recoveries may follow.