Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.
Factsheet for measure NL-2021-1/1820 – Updated – measures in Netherlands
Country | Netherlands , applies nationwide |
Time period | Temporary, 01 January 2021 – 30 September 2021 |
Context | COVID-19 |
Type | Legislations or other statutory regulations |
Category |
Measures to prevent social hardship
– Protection of vulnerable groups (beyond employment support) |
Author | Thomas de Winter (Panteia) and Eurofound |
Measure added | 08 April 2021 (updated 18 October 2021) |
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some households face a drop in their income. The already existing social security system and the measures from other support packages (TVL and NOW) are not effective in solving the actual problem or these households are not eligible for these packages. Therefore, the government and the local governments feel socially responsible for these households with financial issues due to the pandemic.
The government is creating the TONK measure for households that are in danger of getting into serious financial difficulties due to circumstances. The following households meet the eligibility criteria:
€130 million have been reserved for this measure for the first two quarters of 2021. It is expected that this measure can be used from 1 February.
The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.
01 June 2021 |
The support applies from 1 January to 30 September 2021. Municipalities will implement the scheme and can grant TONK retroactively. They can draw up policy rules for TONK themselves on the basis of the Participation Act. |
Through the TONK, municipalities have helped households with an income decline due to corona to pay their housing costs. €260 million has been earmarked for the scheme, but the uptake was not high. In municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, an average of 350 applications were submitted from mid-March to mid-May 2021. In smaller municipalities with 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants, the average number of applications is 49 and in even smaller municipalities 18. This is apparent from the latest TONK monitor, carried out by Divosa with figures from May 2021. There are no more current figures. Municipalities do not have to account for their TONK expenditure (Trouw, 2021).
Workers | Businesses | Citizens |
---|---|---|
Applies to all workers | Does not apply to businesses | Applies to all citizens |
Actors | Funding |
---|---|
National government
Social partners jointly |
National funds
|
Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:
Trade unions | Employers' organisations | |
---|---|---|
Role | Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative | Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative |
Form | Direct consultation outside a formal body | Direct consultation outside a formal body |
Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
The government made agreements with VNG (Association of Dutch Municipalities) and Divosa (the association of municipal directors in the social domain). They have contributed to the design of the TONK measure. The level of social dialogue is almost exclusively national. In a letter to the Parliament the VNG, NVVK, Sociaal Werk Nederland, LCR emphasizes the necessity for measures to promote social security.
Divosa is pleased with the TONK measure. They emphasise the fact that more households with financial problems are eligible for this measure, thus even more households can be helped. They also indicate that the execution must be easy to implement. Divosa will be actively in contact with the other social partners.
Citation
Eurofound (2021), Support for households at risk of serious financial difficulty, measure NL-2021-1/1820 (measures in Netherlands), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/NL-2021-1_1820.html
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