Debt and poverty are areas in which Ink works regularly. We work with Geldfit, which many people use to find ways out of their financial stress. Since 2020, we have been actively involved in the NWO research project: Finding Hidden Poverty. Together with UvA, HvA, Nibud and various municipalities, we started to identify groups where a lot of hidden poverty is present. For each municipality, we look at appropriate interventions to ensure that these target groups are better linked to the tools made available by their municipalities to combat poverty.
*link to article: https://www.nvvk.nl/page/1439/2023/06/07/Bied-ondernemer-voucher-voor-boekhouding *
One of the groups where we see a lot of hidden poverty is small entrepreneurs. In the municipality of Almere/Flevoland, many of these entrepreneurs end up at the ZLF (Flevoland Self-Employed Office). However, the ZLF can only provide them with appropriate help if their administration is in order. If the accounts show that their income is around the minimum, people can be referred to the municipality's social assistance programs. It is precisely the administration that is often a challenge for these people, and therefore a risk factor when it comes to hidden poverty. They themselves are often not aware they have a right to social welfare benefits.
During a workshop given by Ink at the municipality of Almere/Lelystad, several promising interventions were devised. One of them is the Accounting Voucher intervention. There is currently an experiment in which we offer visitors to the ZLF help with accounting by means of an “accounting voucher”. When, at the invitation of the ZLF, the entrepreneur works with the accountant and the figures are in order, the entrepreneur can check with the ZLF what support they are entitled to. At Ink, we are now working on the service design of the path that leads from the ZLF to the municipality. This is how we ensure that people are helped in a timely manner and that they get the right support.
