Antwerp (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Antwerp city authorities seek information about foreign bank holdings and properties amongst those receiving a living wage. Knack reports this information while our editors verify the claim independently.
The Antwerp city administration, led by alderman Nathalie van Baren (N-VA), examines whether recipients of minimum wage benefits have properties or earnings in other countries. Social workers maintain restricted access to outside financial data because of current limitations on such investigations.
According to Van Baren, living wage benefits must end whenever someone systematically conceals their assets. The municipality tried to introduce strict financial investigations in 2017, but the checks were ruled illegal due to privacy risks. The city works to develop legal processes that can check foreign holding situations individually but require federal government consent.
The OCMW in Antwerp, led by Fons Duchateau (N-VA), proposed stricter asset inspections for living wage beneficiaries in 2017 until Denis Ducarme (MR) stopped the initiative due to professional secrecy violations. OCMW chair Nathalie van Baren has brought forward the proposal again to stop beneficiaries from using public assistance funds for foreign property rentals.
The city evaluates cases based on individual circumstances but takes into consideration any valid reasons relating to inherited properties in the recipient’s country of residence. Deliberate fraud in benefit claims would lead to penalties, which could result in repayment demands and benefit suspension.
“It is important that we do not simply offer a living wage to someone who rents out apartments abroad,”
Says Van Baren.
“We also have to investigate the reasons for ownership, because someone from Ukraine can of course also have a house there. So we have to look at each case individually.”
The intention is to punish someone who systematically commits fraud or withholds information.
“We must then stop the minimum income and recover the wrongly paid out support,”
Says the OCMW chairman.
“The measures are also examined on a case-by-case basis.”
“We expect that in the coming years, approximately 1,700 people will knock on the door of our OCMWs with a request for assistance.”
When asked whether there was a chance that the city would be whistled back again as in 2019, Van Baren did not really want to go into detail.
“I will soon be meeting with the responsible minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt (N-VA). There, we will explain the practical side of our plans, taking into account legal objections that existed in the past.”
According to the city, it is certainly possible to have living wages investigated by professional agencies.
“Because of that term ‘private detectives’ from the past, it seems as if we are going to follow people,”
Van Baren continues.
“The intention is actually just to be able to consult public documents from abroad.”
The city is therefore still waiting for the green light from Minister Van Bossuyt.
The opposition party PVDA is not happy with the city’s plans.
“Social research is a task of the OCMW, but in this way it threatens to become a lucrative business,”
Says PVDA faction leader Manal Toumi.
“It is striking how the city government repeatedly targets people in poverty, but does not tackle the causes of poverty.”
According to the party, the proposal contributes to the stigmatisation of people in poverty.
“Many people who are entitled to benefits do not apply for them out of ignorance or fear of being labeled as ‘profiteers’,”
Says Toumi.
“Everyone who is forced to apply for a living wage suddenly becomes suspect.”
What is the current situation of living wage recipients and fraud in Antwerp?
According to Alderman Nathalie van Baren (N-VA), Antwerp counted around 10,000 residents receiving the living wage (leefloon) distribution during late 2024, and 70% of those beneficiaries held non-Belgian citizenship.
The city projections show that it will handle 1,700 additional application cases in the coming years, which has triggered fraud prevention concerns. Research from past Belgian investigations shows that fraud exists in 1-3% of social welfare cases despite challenges in monitoring foreign assets.
Social workers received a court order in 2017 to stop conducting private investigations on living wage recipients because checking personal information violated professional secrecy guidelines. Social workers today can access only Belgian financial records through the Crossroads Bank for Social Security, as foreign income remains untracked by the system. In 2021, the Belgian Court of Audit determined that problems with data sharing across EU borders persist because current EU policies about data exchange remain scattered.
Strict controls have emerged due to the substantial welfare spending increase of 12% that Flanders has seen since 2020. The Public Social Welfare Centre in Antwerp, under OCMW allocated €150 million to living wage support for 2024 while various groups urged for more oversight. Research from the University of Antwerp in 2023 showed that stigma and bureaucracy worries stop 20% of poverty-stricken people from filing benefit applications.
It has been proposed that Antwerp will abandon private investigators in favour of using public foreign registries under a Netherlands-inspired system, which lowered claims fraud by 15% throughout 2018–2022. Federal approval is needed because legal experts believe GDPR EU data privacy regulations may hinder any attempted enforcement.
