Hiring staff? Apply for subsidies

Do you need additional staff, but are hesitant because it will increase labour costs? Find out about subsidies and schemes that will help you reduce the cost of hiring staff.

There are subsidies and schemes for hiring staff. Think of trial placement or wage dispensation. Research by MijnSubsidie shows that the following five industries most often miss out on subsidies for an employee: construction, transport, temporary employment agencies, manufacturing industry and the cleaning industry. This mainly concerns the Labour Costs Compensation (Loonkostenvoordeel, LKV).

Hiring staff

Avoid missing out on schemes or subsidies such as the LKV. All your options at a glance.

Trial placement

Under the trial placement scheme for unemployed or partially disabled people, you can employ a prospective employee unpaid for 2 to a maximum of 6 months.

Wage dispensation

The Wage dispensation scheme applies to workers who are on Wajong benefits (the Dutch Invalidity Insurance (Young Disabled Persons) Act. Employers are allowed to pay these workers less than the minimum wage for anywhere from 6 months to a maximum of 5 years.

Subsidies for low-income workers (LIV)

The low-income allowance (LIV) is an allowance for labour costs. You qualify for the LIV scheme if your employee works at least 1248 hours a year and has an average hourly wage between 100% and 125% of the minimum wage.

The Dutch Tax Administration will automatically pay out the low-income allowance after the end of the calendar year. For more information about the LIV low-income allowance, go to the section on the ‘Wage Expense Allowance Scheme’ in the Handbook of Payroll Taxes (in Dutch).

Labour Costs Compensation for Employers (LKV)

Hiring one or more older employees or employees with an occupational disability? You may be eligible for Labour Costs Compensation (LKV). Use Checklist financial CV to see whether you qualify. The Labour Costs Compensation applies to four groups of people:

• Older employees (56 years and older)
• Newly hired employees with an occupational disability
• Employees from the target group of the ‘jobs agreement’ (banenafspraak) and employees with educational difficulties
• Employees with an occupational disability who are transferred to a more suitable role

Lower costs with the WBSO

Do you or your employees spend time on research & development (R&D)? If you do, it is worth looking into the WBSO R&D tax credit scheme. Through the WBSO, you can reduce your labour costs for research and development. Are you considered an entrepreneur for tax purposes and do you spend at least 500 hours a year on research and development work? Then you can deduct a set amount from your taxable income every year. Check out the government innovation schemes.

Job coaching and workplace adaptation

When it comes to work and workplace adaptation, you have several options:

Guidance by job coach

This scheme lets you bring in a job coach to help a chronically ill employee, disabled employee, or employee on trial placement.

Workplace adaptation subsidy

You can get a subsidy to adapt the workplace for chronically ill or handicapped employees.

UWV Candidate Explorer

The UWV Candidate Explorer (kandidatenverkenner banenafspraak, in Dutch) is a tool for employers under the ‘jobs agreement’. With this tool, employers can find out more about the people that can be found in UWV’s target group register, such as their level of education. Employers can also view anonymous candidate profiles in the Candidate Explorer.

The jobs agreement is an agreement between the government and employers to provide additional jobs for people with illnesses or disabilities. Thanks to the jobs agreement, employees who cannot earn the minimum wage independently can still work for an employer with a certain degree of support.

Employers jointly agreed to provide 125,000 additional jobs for people with illnesses or disabilities between 2013 and 2026.

Temporary work shortage

Do you temporarily have less work for your staff? The following schemes might be useful:

Unemployment benefits for employees on short-time

As of 1 October 2021, employers can apply for the short-time working permit (werktijdverkorting, WTV). Under this scheme, you can apply for benefits for your employees for the hours that have been cut. Situations in which you may be forced to put employees on short-time are a fire in the workplace or bad weather.

Financial resume tool

With the Checklist financial CV employers and employees can check whether they qualify for government assistance or schemes to help them hire staff.