The Schadefonds Geweldsmisdrijven provides a financial contribution on behalf of the government to victims of violent and sexual offences with serious injury. Nobody who comes to this site is there because they want to be. You are a victim, a bereaved relative or a close relative, and you have one question: do I qualify for this?
That makes this site different from most. There is nothing to tempt anyone with and nothing to sell. What counts is whether someone who may only bring themselves to look once finds an honest answer within a few minutes - even when that answer is no. And whether they also find that answer at a moment when reading, clicking and filling in forms do not come easily.
We have worked for the Schadefonds since 2019. We built the site, rebuilt it in 2025 and keep developing it. Seven years on the same question: how does someone reach the right answer at a hard moment?
The challenge
Two things make this site different from most.
The first is the moment. Someone who ends up here has just been through something they never asked for, and then has to make sense of a scheme held together by legislation. Every barrier - a form that asks for documents, a text that is legalistic, a page that does not make clear whether they are at the right desk - is one too many.
The second is the obligation. The Schadefonds is a government organisation, so the site has to meet the requirements for digital accessibility. That is not a finishing touch but a precondition, and it applies just as firmly to the tools you build into it yourself.
You do not come to this site because you want to
Our approach
We moved the question to the front: first the answer to “do I qualify”, and only then the scheme.
- The short questionnaire: a few questions that give an anonymous answer, without you having to upload documents, with immediate advice at the end. By now an application of its own, with a schema-driven decision tree and a built-in validator that checks a questionnaire for dead ends before it is allowed to go live
- Separate routes for victims and professionals - right down to the search results and the menu bar
- “My situation” as the first way in: I am a victim, I am a bereaved relative, I am a close relative
- Accessibility in the build: a black-and-white mode, full keyboard operation, labels for assistive software, visible focus states, aria-labels on the landmarks and support for reduced motion and high contrast. The newest questionnaire has been built explicitly to WCAG 2.2 AA level
- External WCAG audits with periodic retests, the recommendations carried through in both the technology and the content, and an accessibility statement on toegankelijkheidsverklaring.nl
- werkenbijschadefonds.nl: a recruitment site of its own with vacancies that expire by themselves, made WCAG-proof as well
- schadefonds.nl/publicaties: the online annual report, with figure blocks and charts that can be followed with screen readers
- Multilingual with WPML, forms with Gravity Forms, and a search function with live suggestions, synonyms and a “did you mean” correction
- An A/B test on the questionnaire, so that an improvement is not an opinion but a measurement
- A partnership with fixed weekly, monthly and quarterly meetings, an annual hours agreement, hosting, monitoring and security
The result
The redesign has been live since September 2025, built on the new brand guidelines and mobile first. The short questionnaire catches the question that would otherwise reach the service desk, and gives the answer at the moment someone is looking for it.
What began as one website has become a series in six years: the main site, the recruitment site, the online annual report and the youth care scheme. And accessibility is not a project that is finished once - more adjustments followed after the audit, and with every new feature it starts again.
In government, accessible is not a finishing touch
A site that does not start with the scheme, but with the question someone really has.
“Eenvoud is a full partner. They do what they promise. No fuss, no small print and no hidden costs.”
Maarten van der Wal
Senior communications adviser, Schadefonds Geweldsmisdrijven
Let’s talk
Tell us about your challenge. We’ll think along.
A reply within one working day. No account managers, no sales pitch.
