If you are an employee and have lost your job in whole or in part, you are entitled to unemployment benefits (WW-uitkering or Werkloosheidswetuitkering).
To do this, you must meet a number of conditions:
- you are insured against unemployment. This usually happens if you are employed as an employee and have not yet reached retirement age;
- if you have had 5 or more hours of work cut per week and you are not entitled to pay for those hours;
- you are ready to take up gainful employment;
- you worked for at least 26 weeks in the 36 weeks before becoming unemployed. This does not include weeks in which you worked as a self-employed person;
- you do not belong to the exception group (this applies, for example, to people who have been in custody);
- you became unemployed through no fault of your own. If you voluntarily resign from work, you are only entitled to unemployment benefits in exceptional circumstances.
If you work as an employee, you pay contributions and are insured against job loss. In what situation are you not insured:
- while on full-time unpaid leave;
- staying illegally in the Netherlands;
- you are of age at which you can and are entitled to receive a pension;
- you work 4 days or less while being part of a shared household.
New job with fewer hours
Your income in the new job will be supplemented by unemployment benefit if your earnings are lower than your monthly unemployment benefit. The amount of unemployment benefit is determined by deducting your income. 70% of your income will be deducted from your unemployment benefit, you can keep 30% of your income in addition to your (reduced) unemployment benefit. If you earn more than 87.5% of your monthly unemployment benefit, then your benefit will be stopped.
How long are you entitled to unemployment benefit?
You are entitled to unemployment benefit for 3 months or more. The exact duration of unemployment benefit depends on your total employment history and when you became unemployed. The maximum period of unemployment benefit is 24 months.
Important! While receiving the benefit, you are required to be in the Netherlands and actively looking for work.
You can only receive unemployment benefit abroad, i.e. in Poland, if you intend to look for work in Poland. This is possible for a maximum of 3 months. You need permission from the UWV (Dutch equivalent of the Polish Employment Office) for this.
Amount of benefit
The amount of benefit is calculated based on the last 12 months of work. For the first 2 months, the benefit is 75% of the monthly average income from the last 12 months of work. In the following months, you will receive 70%. The benefit calculator can be found on the website HERE.
When and where to apply for unemployment benefit
You can start applying for unemployment benefit 1 week before your last day of work. The employment office can then already receive data on the last payments, necessary to calculate the amount of benefit. The application must be submitted no later than 1 week after the last day of work. Late submission of the application means endless administrative problems, a delay in the payment of the benefit and a reduction in the amount of the benefit.
The application for the benefit should be submitted on the Werk.NL website, you will need a DigiD HERE.