Dutch government rolls back self-employment law to ease market unrest and protect low earners
The Dutch cabinet is scrapping part of its self-employment legislation to reduce uncertainty for 1.2 million self-employed workers and their clients. Low-paid self-employed professionals earning up to €38 per hour will gain stronger legal protections sooner, while the government works on a new Self-Employed Professionals Act.
| Key Fact | Details |
|---|---|
| Number of self-employed professionals | 1.2 million (Netherlands) |
| Hourly rate threshold | €38 (as of 1 January 2026) |
| Legislation scrapped | Clarification section of the Vbar draft bill |
| New legislation in progress | Self-Employed Professionals Act |
| Enforcement of bogus self-employment | Fully reinstated since 1 January 2025 |
| Minister responsible | Minister Aartsen (Social Affairs and Employment) |
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment oversees labor market regulations, including policies for self-employed professionals. Its role is to balance fair working conditions with economic flexibility, ensuring legal clarity for both workers and employers.
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Cabinet opts for more calm and clarity for self-employed professionals and clients
The cabinet is scrapping part of the (new) self-employed professional legislation already before the House of Representatives. This concerns the clarification section of the draft bill Clarification of assessment of employment relationships and presumption of employment (Vbar). This part of the legislation was causing too much unrest. By doing so, Minister Aartsen of Social Affairs and Employment is charting a course for self-employed professionals aimed at more calm and clarity. This also paves the way for the Self-Employed Professionals Act. Work on this will continue in the coming period. However, the cabinet does want to give self-employed professionals earning up to €38 per hour (as of 1 January 2026) a stronger legal position as quickly as possible with the previously proposed hourly rate.
Minister Aartsen: “With this, the cabinet is taking the first step in a new direction. It is important to provide clarity to self-employed professionals and clients. This will create calm among self-employed professionals and clients, so that we prevent contracts from being unnecessarily lost. Part of the Vbar draft bill before the House lacked support. This caused unrest in the market. That is why I am withdrawing that part of the draft bill. This clears the way for the Self-Employed Professionals Act.”
In the Netherlands, nearly 1.2 million people work as self-employed professionals. Since 1 January 2025, enforcement of bogus self-employment has been fully reinstated. This will remain the case. If a self-employed professional is used but it turns out that an employment contract exists, the client must still pay wage taxes. There are also risks in terms of labour and pension law.
Scrapping clarification section of Vbar
The cabinet is scrapping the part of the Vbar draft bill intended to clarify when someone is genuinely self-employed or actually an employee. The cabinet wants to introduce the Self-Employed Professionals Act as quickly as possible to replace this.
Introducing the Self-Employed Professionals Act is an agreement from the coalition agreement of the new cabinet. This should give self-employed professionals a clearer position and legal recognition. The cabinet will be working hard on the Self-Employed Professionals Act in the coming period.
Better legal protection for low-paid self-employed professionals
The cabinet wants to speed up the part of the Vbar draft bill that makes it easier for low-paid self-employed professionals to assert their legal position. This concerns self-employed professionals earning up to €38 per hour (reference date 1 January 2026). If self-employed professionals invoke the presumption of employment, clients must prove that there is no employment contract. If they cannot do so, this constitutes bogus self-employment and the self-employed professional is entitled to the protection that comes with being an employee.