Spring Memorandum 2026 published

General overview

The government has published its Spring Memorandum. The Spring Memorandum 2026 serves as a starting document for the new government and turns financial agreements in the Coalition Agreement into material policy. Against a backdrop of geopolitical uncertainties, the government has opted for a trend-based budget policy, announcing reforms in both expenditure and revenue. In this context several measures have been proposed that will directly or indirectly affect employers, the workforce and administrators in relation to payroll tax, the labour market and social security. We have included the most notable of these below.  

Income tax and social security

A major announcement is the introduction of the "freedom contribution". This additional levy will be introduced for all Dutch citizens from 2027 by making a small change to income tax by adjusting the tax table correction factor.  For employers the freedom contribution will be effected through an increase in social security contributions (Invalidity Insurance Fund (AOF). This increase in the tax burden will gradually rise over the coming years and provide additional budgetary room on an ongoing basis.

In addition, the government is proposing to cut the maximum daily wage amount (used to calculate social security benefits) by 20% from 2029. This will mainly affect those on higher incomes as the maximum daily wage determines the amount paid in unemployment (WW) and disability (WIA) benefits. This measure will also affect employers, given that this daily wage is used to set the contribution bases for various employee insurances. Lower bases result in less contribution revenue, according to the government this can be offset by setting higher contribution rates which means that, on balance, there will be no reduction in the tax burden on employers.

The Spring Memorandum further looked at healthcare contributions. Unexpected savings in public health insurance expenditure (via the Health Insurance Act) will lead to lower contributions for policyholders. However, to prevent a reduction in the EMU (general government) balance, the government is going to compensate for these windfalls through higher rates in the first and second income tax bands, along with a further increase in the Invalidity Insurance Fund (AOF) contribution. On balance, therefore, there will be no savings for policyholders.

Employment market

The government is also intending to take a more active approach to the labour market.  The Unemployment Insurance Act (WW) will be amended by introducing a limit on the maximum duration of unemployment benefits to twelve months from 2028. At the same time the benefit will be increased to 80% (of the previous average daily wage) during the first phase of unemployment, followed by a lower rate. Further reforms will be made to the eligibility criteria and the way in which unemployment benefits are accrued will also be tightened up, with the aim of encouraging more people to find work.

In addition, together with the social partners, the government has announced long term investments in lifelong learning. These investments are intended to support long-term employability and create a better match between supply and demand on the labour market. 

Cross-border employment in the EU context

Finally, the Spring Memorandum underlines the importance of timely reforms in the framework of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (HVP). Progress needs to be made in several labour market issues for the disbursement of European funds, including the Assessment of Employment Relationships and Legal Presumption (Clarification) (VBAR) bill and the Mandatory Insurance for the Self-Employed (Loss of Income due to Incapacity for Work) (BAZ) bill. Failure to meet these deadlines could result in a significant reduction in EU funding. The announced reforms are therefore relevant not just nationally, but also have an impact in the context of the EU and cross-border employment.