System failure in the digital welfare state: Exploring parliamentary and judicial control in the Dutch childcare benefits scandal

In recent years, there have been multiple policy fiascos (large-scale policy failures) in the digitalized enforcement of social security across welfare states. Besides similarities in outcomes, these cases have exposed far-reaching consequences of ‘rule of law system weaknesses’ in the form of deficits in parliamentary and judicial control. While there has been increasing attention for the vulnerability of benefit recipients in the digital welfare state, the importance of parliamentary and judicial control and the problematic nature of deficits in these control mechanisms has remained largely overlooked. This article takes a first step towards an understanding of this issue. It (a) examines the linkages between parliamentary and judicial control and policy failure and (b) analyses the role of deficits in these control mechanisms in the Dutch childcare benefits scandal. The results demonstrate the combined relevance of a variety of control deficits related to the legislative process, parliamentary scrutiny and judicial review. Moreover, interdependencies between parliamentary and judicial control highlight the importance of holistically analysing their combined influence. All in all, the article facilitates a deeper understanding of system failure in the digital welfare state and provides recommendations for future research.