New cabinet changes direction on freelancer legislation

The new government is scrapping large parts of draft legislation aimed at curbing sham self-employment, following criticism from both freelancer organisations and MPs.

Employment minister Thierry Aartsen told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting that much of the legislation, worked on by successive governments, would go, but that protection for freelancers on low incomes would remain.

In particular the minister is scrapping the complex set of rules aimed at defining who qualifies as a freelancer, based on whether or not they own their own tools, pick their hours and have specific expertise.

“This is the first step in a new direction,” Aartsen told the Financieele Dagblad.

“Freelancers have had to deal with years of uncertainty and they need to know where they stand,” he said.

The revised legislation will allow freelancers who do not earn enough to live in a reasonable manner or to save up for a pension, or for periods of unemployment and illness, to go to court to demand they are treated as regular employees.

“If you earn less than €38, you will be able to say that you should be an employee,” Aartsen said.

The minister said he hopes the the amended bill will be approved by both houses of parliament before the summer and will take effect early next year.

The number of freelancers in the Dutch labour market fell by 62,000 last year, with the sharpest decline among young adults going it alone, national statistics agency CBS said last month.

The number of people who earned most of their income on a freelance basis had grown to almost 1.3 million by the end of 2024. The social affairs ministry said last July it estimates that around 200,000 of the Netherlands’ registered freelancers should be employed on standard contracts.