The corona crisis and financial vulnerability
Text: Suzanne Elferink, program manager education at Moneywise, Dutch Ministry of Finance
COVID-19 has major consequences for us all, including the Netherlands. Moneywise created a special webpage about the financial side of the corona crisis and organised an online meeting about financial vulnerability.
COVID-19 has major consequences for us all, including the Netherlands. Many companies closed their doors, schools shut down and working from home became the standard. The Dutch government introduced a large number of financial measures, from support in the continued payment of wages by companies to postponement in paying taxes and from benefits for self-employed people to allowances for students.
To gain insight into and an overview of all arrangements, Moneywise created several web pages with information about all these measures. We split these into target groups. This created clarity in terms of what arrangements are in place for which target group. We issued 10 smart money tips to avoid money worries. We deployed a visual aid to make sure that our tips also reached functionally illiterate people. We made a call to action to ask for help from family, a neighbour or an organisation. We also created a page featuring 5 steps to list your income and expenditure. We will convert these 5 steps into a visual aid as well.
Every year, Moneywise organises a platform meeting for professionals in the social and financial fields. This year's meeting was held on 26 May 2020. The corona crisis partly inspired the theme: #Financially vulnerable in a new (economic) reality. In her speech, Queen Máxima, honorary president of Wijzer in geldzaken, appealed for early identification of vulnerable people and to ensure greater resilience. Queen Máxima also encouraged collaboration between professionals.
Before this meeting, we asked Nibud, one of the partners of Wijzer in geldzaken, to conduct a literature study into financially vulnerable groups. This literature study shows that financial vulnerability never exists on its own. It concerns a combination of causes: insufficient basic qualifications, functionally illiterate, lack of job security and hardly any savings.
A flash poll was also carried out among a representative group of Dutch people on behalf of Wijzer in geldzaken. Despite the efforts of the Dutch government, this poll shows that financially vulnerable groups are affected by the corona crisis, much more so than others. Two-thirds of low-paid flexible workers and self-employed workers indicate that their personal income has fallen. This causes a lot of financial stress.
The outcomes of this meeting at the same time form the basis for an action plan for financially vulnerable groups in Dutch society. This action plan will be implemented shortly.