Editing Wim Kok (section)

==== First term (1994–1998) ====
In the [[1994 Dutch general election|1994 general election]], the Labour Party lost twelve seats, but the CDA with new leader [[Elco Brinkman]] lost twenty seats, making the Labour Party the largest party in the House of Representatives. After an arduous cabinet formation with the [[conservative liberalism|conservative liberal]] [[People's Party for Freedom and Democracy]] (VVD) and the [[social liberalism|social liberal]] [[Democrats 66]] (D66), a deal was struck that resulted in the [[first Kok cabinet]], with Kok as prime minister. It was considered groundbreaking in Dutch politics as this was the first [[Cabinet of the Netherlands]] since 1918 without a [[Christian democracy|Christian democratic]] party.<ref name=guard/>

The main aim of the first Kok cabinet was to create employment. The Dutch economy had been in a deep recession for years. The market was allowed more influence in the economy. This led to a policy of tax reduction, economizing, and trying to keep people out of social care by supporting employment; large infrastructure projects were set in motion. Another aim was to put an end to the enormous debt of the Dutch government.<ref name=guard/> The [[Treaty of Amsterdam]] was signed during this cabinet.

Kok's first term also saw various cuts and changes to education and welfare. Regarding education, spending on education, culture and sciences was cut by 1,772 million guilders. In addition, according to one study, “A law concerning the modernization of the universities' administrative structure replaced the democratized structure of the 1970s with a more autocratic system, inspired by the management style of business concerns.” Although primary education received some extra money, which made it possible to introduce computers and decrease the average number of pupils in 4 years, the latter resulted in a shortage of classrooms and teachers.<ref>[https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A3450630/view Policy Successes and Failures of the First Purple Cabinet by A. Hoogerwerf]</ref> Before 1996, the government provided a study allowance to people with a low income. That year, the Study Costs Allowance Act (WTS) was introduced, under which the number of standard amounts decreased and hard income limits were introduced. According to one study, “It soon became apparent that the WTS gave rise to a lot distressing situations. These situations are mainly related to the hard income limits that led to a major drop in income. In addition, the income limit of the WTS was independent of the number of children per family.” In the 1998 coalition agreement, however, “these hard limits were corrected and more money was made available to more people.”<ref>[https://archief.rijksbegroting.nl/binaries/pdfs/beleidsdoorlichtingen/ocw-wtos.pdf  Beleidsdoorlichting van de WTOS: Wet Tegemoetkoming Onderwijsbijdrage en Schoolkosten Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap Directie Hoger Onderwijs en Studiefinanciering Afdeling Studiefinanciering, P.6]</ref> Regarding welfare, amendments were made to the [[Child_benefit#Netherlands|General Child Benefit]] Act in 1995, under which benefit was increased with age only for the first child, while from 1996 child benefit only became payable for children up until the age of 18, while previously child benefit was paid up until the age of 24 under certain circumstances.<ref>{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ooSUdsTD5N0C&dq=In+addition,+as+from+1+january+1996,+child+benefit+has+been+payable+only+for+children+under+the+age+of+eighteen,&pg=PA564 |title=European Social Charter: Committee of Independent Experts : Conclusions XIV-1 |date=1998-01-01 |publisher=Council of Europe |isbn=978-92-871-3637-4 |language=en}}</ref> Social Assistance was revised in 1995, with a tightening of both eligibility and entitlement rules.<ref>[https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/330151/Def_Netherland_submission.pdf?sequence=1 The Dutch Participatory State : Shift from a Welfare System of Collective Solidarity Towards Individual Responsibility in a Participatory Society, van Gerven, Minna]</ref> A special supplement for pensioners was abolished, the eligibility criteria were tightened, certain cash benefits to children and widows were reduced, unemployment eligibility criteria were tightened, and benefits were cut in the disability pension law.<ref>Ideologues, Partisans, and Loyalists Ministers and Policymaking in Parliamentary Cabinets By Despina Alexiadou, 2016,P.188</ref> A linking law was adopted, which made it possible to link data sets from the population register, social security, and the aliens police
(where all aliens must register). The goal of this was to oppose illegal residence by excluding illegal aliens from collective provisions such as [[Economy_of_the_Netherlands#Government|social security]] benefits.<ref>[https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A3450630/view Policy Successes and Failures of the First Purple Cabinet by A. Hoogerwerf]</ref> In 1996, compulsory [[Sick leave|sick pay]] was entirely privatized, and wage continuation as a percentage of usual wages went down from 75 to 70%, although duration was extended to 52 weeks.<ref>Social Democracy in Power The Capacity to Reform By Wolfgang Merkel, Alexander Petring, Christian Henkes, Christoph Egle, 2008</ref> With the review of a rent allowance, residents of non-self-contained accommodation were no longer entitled to rent subsidy in 1997.<ref>[https://www.openkamer.org/kamerstuk/29003/6/ 29 003 Voorstel van wet van het lid Van Gent tot wijziging van de Huursubsidiewet (huursubsidie voor jongeren en studenten)]</ref> As noted by one study, “For people with a minimum social benefit and children, purchasing power decreased in the first three years of the cabinet's term of office. During the whole cabinet period their purchasing power increased with a meagre two-tenths of a per cent per annum, due to an increase oftwo per cent in the election year (cpb 1998: 22,168–177).” Under pressure from the churches and other groupings, however, “the cabinet placed the problem of poverty on the policy agenda.” Some support was given to financially vulnerable groups, with compensations in the individual rent subsidy for households with children and an income at the level of the social minimum, measures for those elderly with only a general old age pension or a small additional pension, and a higher extra allowance for the first child. In addition, before the elections of 1998, “the decreased purchasing power was repaired with 850 million guilders, mainly for people on social benefit.”<ref>[https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A3450630/view Policy Successes and Failures of the First Purple Cabinet by A. Hoogerwerf]</ref>

[[File:Wim Kok and Bill Clinton with the Netherlands Carillon's Fiftieth Bell.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Prime Minister Wim Kok with U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]] on 28 February 1995]]

Despite its cuts and changes to welfare and education, a number of progressive measures were introduced during the Kok cabinet's time in office. In 1994, a reform was passed including part-time workers in the occupational pension funds.<ref>The Politics of Advanced Capitalism by Pablo Beramendi, Silja Häusermann, Herbert Kitschelt, 2015, P.278</ref> In terms of [[residential care]], a personal budget was introduced in 1995 to meet various individual needs; offering a choice “between care in kind, or cash payments that could also be used to purchasing services from private and market sector.”<ref>[https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/330151/Def_Netherland_submission.pdf?sequence=1 The Dutch Participatory State : Shift from a Welfare System of Collective Solidarity Towards Individual Responsibility in a Participatory Society, van Gerven, Minna]</ref> [[Employment protection legislation|Employment protection]] was also maintained while past plans to reduce it were “shelved,” income tax for the lower paid was cut, and 40,000 jobs in the public sector for the long-term unemployed were created.<ref>Ideologues, Partisans, and Loyalists Ministers and Policymaking in Parliamentary Cabinets By Despina Alexiadou, 2016,P.188</ref> From 1995, “elderly people with an income in the first tax bracket have a tax benefit. Due to the elderly person's deduction, the net [[Algemene Ouderdomswet|AOW]] pension is higher.” In 1997, a separate tax deduction for single elderly persons was introduced on 1 January 1997. According to one study, “For this group of elderly people with only an AOW pension, this measure provides an additional income benefit of approximately 1 percent (approximately NLG 160 on an annual basis).”<ref>[https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/kst-24515-30.pdf 24 515 Preventie en bestrijding van stille armoede en sociale uitsluiting, P.19]</ref> The personal contribution for the costs of disability support services under the Disability Facilities Act (Wvg) was also considerably relaxed as of 1 April 1996. According to one report “The personal contribution for a wheelchair has been cancelled and for the other facilities in kind it remains limited to f 100.”<ref>[https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/kst-24515-30.pdf 24 515 Preventie en bestrijding van stille armoede en sociale uitsluiting, P.21]</ref>    

Under a circular from the [[Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment]] dated 6 June 1996 (BZ/UK/96/2613), municipalities “have been given the option of allocating municipal income support benefits categorically (the effect of this circular has been extended by the letter of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment of 30 May 2000, no. BZ/IW/00/34933A).” An amendment to the General Assistance Act (Abw) 'in connection with the prevention and combating of poverty and social exclusion' (Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 193 of 2 May 1997) “has ensured that from 1 July 1997 municipalities can also provide categorical special assistance in addition to individual special assistance.”<ref>[https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0012187/2001-01-01 Fiscale behandeling van (categoriale) bijzondere bijstand en gemeentelijke inkomensondersteunende maatregelen]</ref> The government also attempted to support child care through the Stimulation of Child Care Act (1996), which made childcare provisions “a shared responsibility between the government, the employer and the working parent.”<ref>Reconciling Family and Work New Challenges for Social Policies in Europe Edited by Giovanni Rossi, 2006, P.178</ref> From 1996, municipalities “have been able to appeal to a new subsidy option to provide childcare to single parents on social assistance, who are following schooling or who accept part-time or full-time work.” In 1996 some 525 municipalities applied for this subsidy.<ref>[https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/kst-24515-30.pdf 24 515 Preventie en bestrijding van stille armoede en sociale uitsluiting  uitsluiting P.8]</ref> As of 1 January 1997, municipalities and water boards "have more extensive opportunity to grant a waiver."<ref>[https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/kst-24515-30.pdf  24 515 Preventie en bestrijding van stille armoede en sociale uitsluiting  P.26]</ref>

In 1997, more flexibility introduced into the [[parental leave]] scheme, with employees able to request to spread leave over more than 26 weeks or take up more hours per week.<ref>[https://www.oecd.org/els/family/PF2_5_Trends_in_leave_entitlements_around_childbirth_annex.pdf PF 2.5 ANNEX: DETAIL OF CHANGE IN PARENTAL LEAVE BY COUNTRY]</ref> That same year the rent subsidy was changed, with subject subsidies for tenants becoming more explicitly aimed at support for lower-income groups.<ref>Divergence in European Welfare and Housing Systems By J. S. C. M. Hoekstra , 2010, P.42</ref> Also in 1997, coverage of the [[AWBZ]] (a separate mandatory insurance scheme for long-term care set up in 1968) was extended to residential care for the elderly.<ref>Reforming Long-term Care in Europe Edited by Joan Costa-Font, P.55</ref> From 1997 the TOG act on ‘allowance for cost of maintenance of multiple and severely physically handicapped children’ “offers a financial support to parents who look after their severely handicapped children (3 till 18 years) at their home.”<ref>[https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=2c2a51c50760ed052f3fa35ac9af34c4e34c7d9d The Battle Against Numbers: Disability Policies in the Netherlands by Wim van Oorschot Kees Boos, P.15]</ref> In January 1998, national Disability Insurance was abolished, but a new law called Wajong was introduced.<ref>Labour Markets at a Crossroads Causes of Change, Challenges and Need to Reform Edited by Henrik Lindberg and Nils Karlson, 2011, P.53</ref> In addition, An Act of 24 April 1997 provided for “a new insurance to protect self-employed workers and their spouses in case of long-term disability.”<ref>[https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=&p_isn=47604  Act of 24 April 1997 establishing an insurance in case of financial consequences from long-term work disability and the regulations for benefit payments for workers and their spouses who are self-employed/independently employed.]</ref> An Act of 11 September 1997 provided for “new regulations that concern persons who are under the age of 65, suffer from physical or mental disabilities and can therefore only work full-time in jobs which are especially suited for them.” It also provided that each community ("gemeente") “has the responsibility to provide as many employment opportunities as possible to persons who are considered able to work only in jobs tailored to their needs or capacities.”<ref>[https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&p_isn=48127 Act of 11 September 1997 providing new regulations for the Act Social Work Provision ("Wet sociale werkvoorziening").]</ref> From July 1997 onwards,<ref>[https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/kst-26204-2.pdf  26 204 Jaaroverzicht Zorg 1999, P.98]</ref> “the residents of care homes no longer pay individually for the viewing and listening fee.”<ref>[https://www.parlementairemonitor.nl/9353000/1/j9vvij5epmj1ey0/vi3al1uenozt  Rapport - Armoedebestrijding: de financiële ondersteuning]</ref> The Temporary Income Provision Former In-land Navigation Entrepreneurs Act of 1997 sought “to rectify a lack of income support for entrepreneurs who have become incapable of continuing their work for reasons of old-age or disability. The income assistance and benefit provisions become effective as of 1 January 1999.”
<ref>[https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&p_isn=47621&p_country=NLD&p_count=1806&p_classification=15&p_classcount=748 Act of 30 May 1997 concerning the establishment of income provisions for formerly self-employed entrepreneurs in fresh water/in-land navigation.]</ref>

From April 1998 onwards, persons aged 65 and above received a higher than other persons entitled to social assistance, known as the elderly person norm.<ref>[https://lokaleregelgeving.overheid.nl/63607/1 Verordening Toeslagen en verlagingen Wet werk en bijstand 2004]</ref>  An Act of 23 April 1998 established new rules with regard to the (re)integration of the disabled, such as renumeration, the promotion of equal opportunities, the provision of facilities, reintegration benefits, allowances for occupationally disabled WAZ insured persons, income supplements for occupationally disabled self-employed persons, wage supplements, and starter loans.<ref>[https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/stb-1998-290.html Wet van 23 april 1998, houdende vaststelling van nieuwe regels met betrekking tot de (re)integratie van arbeidsgehandicapten (Wet op de (re)integratie arbeidsgehandicapten)]</ref>

In the [[1998 Dutch general election|1998 general election]], the Labour party gained eight seats; the coalition retained its majority, and cabinet formation resulted in a continuation of policies with the [[second Kok cabinet]]. <ref>{{Cite web |title=NETHERLANDS Parliamentary Chamber: Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal |url=http://archive.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/arc/2231_98.htm |archive-url= |website=Inter-Parliamentary Union |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/617565273 |title=Elections in Europe: a data handbook |date=2010 |publisher=Nomos |isbn=978-3-8329-5609-7 |editor-last=Nohlen |editor-first=Dieter |edition=1. |location=Baden-Baden, Germany |oclc=617565273 |editor-last2=Stöver |editor-first2=Philip}}</ref>