More than 16,000 women who had babies while working as freelancers had made a claim for compensation for maternity pay by the end of September cut-off date, the UWV benefit payments agency said on Tuesday.

Women who were self employed between May 2005 and June 2008 are entitled to claim €5,600 for each pregnancy following a court ruling.

At that time there was no maternity statutory pay for freelancers but the country’s highest administrative court ruled last year that this conflicted with the UN treaty on women’s rights. This forced the government to set up a compensation scheme.

In total, 16,34 women have applied for compensation covering 18,695 births, the UWV said. It is unclear how many claims will be approved.