Retraining for your personnel? Apply for a subsidy

Offering your personnel training and retraining increases staff satisfaction. It also helps to keep your employees up-to-date on relevant developments. Or, it may help personnel to find a new job. There are several schemes and subsidies you can apply for.

NL keeps on learning ('NL leert door')

The ‘NL leert door’ (in Dutch) scheme gives future unemployed persons personal development advice to retrain for professions that are increasingly in demand (in Dutch). The scheme makes it possible to retrain free of charge. Employees can use these free training courses (in Dutch) until 31 March 2023. Examples include:

• A course in Dutch. For example, if you are a catering entrepreneur who wants to hire English-speaking staff.
• A basic administration course for shop staff who can then do some of the administration.
• A basic logistics course. If you hire (temporary) warehouse staff, for example. As an employer, you can also finance such a course yourself and include it in your tax return as a training cost (in Dutch).

The Lifelong Learning Credit

If your employee is going to take an MBO, HBO or university course, they can apply for a Lifelong Learning Credit. The Lifelong Learning Credit is a loan and must be repaid within 15 years. Keep in mind that you may not require your employee to take a training course.

STAP budget

If your employees take a training course that costs up to €1,000, they may be able to use the STAP budget for training and development.

Training and Development Funds ('O&O fondsen')

If your business works with a collective labour agreement, or ‘CAO’ in Dutch, you can apply for the financial compensation of O&O-fondsen (Training and Development Funds, in Dutch). These funds compensate for part of the costs of some training courses. They also employ career advisers, who can help with schooling and training routes. Take a look at the overview of recognised O&O-fondsen and similar funds (in Dutch), or contact your sector organisation.

Learn and work counter ('Leerwerkloket')

The ‘Leerwerkloket’ (in Dutch) helps and advises employers, job seekers, students, and employees on learning and working from the vision ‘Leven Lang Ontwikkelen’ (‘Lifelong Development’). They are there for everyone who has questions about retraining, upskilling, and learning on-the-job routes. Each ‘Leerwerkloket’ is an independent collaboration between municipalities, regional development centres, and the Employment Insurance Agency UWV.

Inform the Works Council (‘Informeren Ondernemingsraad’)

As an employer, you are required to inform the works council (‘ondernemingsraad’ or OR) if you decide to train or upskill an employee using one of the schemes mentioned in this article.