Retraining for your personnel? Apply for a subsidy

  • Amber Kuipers
  • How to
  • 6 July 2020
  • Edited 6 January 2026
  • 2 min
  • Managing and growing
  • Staff

Retraining, further training, or education: training your staff costs money. The government offers programmess and subsidies to help you with these costs. Check the programmes and subsidies below and choose what best suits your situation.

Leeroverzicht

The labour market is changing rapidly. That is why it is important for workers and jobseekers to keep developing. To this end, the government has developed the website Leeroverzicht (in Dutch). Here, employees can ask questions about all kinds of training courses, ways to pay for them, and information about career advisers in their neighbourhood. 

Want to start looking for suitable training straight away? Then follow the step-by-step plan.

SLIM subsidy

The Incentive Scheme for Learning and Development within SMEs (SLIM subsidy) is for SME entrepreneurs, SME partnerships, and large companies in agriculture, the catering industry, and recreation. Using this scheme, you can get subsidies to stimulate learning and development among your staff.

The Lifelong Learning Credit

If your employee is going to take an MBO, HBO or university education course, they can apply for a Lifelong Learning Credit. The Lifelong Learning Credit is a loan and must be repaid within 15 years. Keep in mind that you may not require your employee to take an education course.

Training and Development Funds (O&O fondsen)

If your business works with a collective labour agreement, or CAO in Dutch, you can apply for the financial compensation of O&O-fondsen (Training and Development Funds, in Dutch). These funds compensate for part of the costs of some training courses. They also employ career advisers, who can help with schooling and training routes. Take a look at the overview of recognised O&O-fondsen and similar funds (in Dutch), or contact your sector organisation.

Learn and work counter (Leerwerkloket)

The Leerwerkloket’ (in Dutch) helps and advises employers, job seekers, students, and employees on learning and working from the vision Leven Lang Ontwikkelen (Lifelong Development). They are for everyone who has questions about retraining, upskilling, and learning on-the-job routes. Each Leerwerkloket is an independent collaboration between municipalities, regional development centres, and the Employment Insurance Agency UWV.

Subsidy scheme for the employment of asylum permit holders (SOWIS)

You can apply for a subsidy for extra guidance of asylum permit holders in learning the professional language and teaching them the culture of your organisation. You can apply via the Dutch-language Uitvoering van Beleid (UVB, Policy Execution) website of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Work (SZW). You can get €6,000 in subsidy per status holder per year, with a maximum of 4 status holders per organisation. ou can read the conditions for applying on the Policy Execution website (in Dutch).  

Recruitment and selection support

This subsidy scheme complements the support for, among other things, the recruitment and selection, training and guidance of job seekers (including status holders) that you can apply for through the regional Werkgeversservicepunten (Employer Service Points, in Dutch). 

Inform the Works Council 

Do you decide to offer upskilling or retraining to an employee? And do you have more than 50 employees and therefore a works council? As an employer, you are required to inform the works council (ondernemingsraad or OR) if you decide to train or upskill an employee using one of the schemes mentioned in this article.

Training obligation

As an employer, you must offer your employees training. For instance through an annual training budget as part of a personal development plan. These costs are business operating expenses that you can partially or fully deduct from your income tax.

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