Anw benefits

To be entitled to surviving relations benefit, a person has to comply with one of the following conditions:

• be born before 1950, or;
• have a child under 18 years of age, or;
• be pregnant, or;
• be unable to work (at least 45 percent) because of a disability.

The surviving relatives benefit is the successor to the general widows and orphans benefit. The main difference between the old and the new benefit is that in the latter cohabiting couples have the same entitlements as married couples.
The amount of benefit depends on the income of the surviving relative. Income from labour (wage or salary) is partly exempt. Income related to employment (e.g. unemployment benefit) is deducted in full. The exemption for income from labour is 50 percent of the gross minimum wage level plus one third of remaining income. A person with an income of more than 2,321 euro per month (from 1 July 2009) is not entitled to an Anw benefit. This income test also applies to people born before 1 January 1950.
The Anw datasets are taken from the SVB, the organisation that implements national insurance schemes in the Netherlands.