WIA in the Netherlands: what you get if you cannot work

What happens in the first two years if I fall ill?

Your employer continues your pay for up to 104 weeks. By law this is at least 70% of your wage, counted up to the maximum daily wage (more on that below). In the first 52 weeks it is also at least the minimum wage.

Many collective labour agreements (cao) pay more, often 100% in year one and 70% in year two. This differs per cao. On a high salary, one question matters: does that percentage apply to your full salary, or only up to the maximum daily wage? The law does not require pay above that limit, so look it up in your contract or cao.

In week 88 of your illness UWV sends you a letter about the WIA. You then have six weeks to apply, and the last date is in the letter. You apply yourself, not your employer. If UWV finds that your employer did too little to get you back to work, it can extend your sick pay by up to 52 weeks.

What does the WIA assessment decide?

It decides how much you can still earn, compared with what you earned before. UWV also looks at work other than your own job.

An insurance doctor records what you can still do. A labour expert then finds jobs within those limits. The middle wage of three jobs counts as what you can still earn. These are jobs in UWV's database, not jobs someone offers you. There are three outcomes.

What does the WGA pay, and when does it fall?

The WGA has three benefits. Which one you get depends on your work history, on how much you earn and on what UWV says you can still earn.

• Wage-related benefit (loongerelateerde uitkering). You must have worked in at least 26 of the 36 calendar weeks before you reported sick, at least one hour a week. The benefit is 75% for the first two months and then 70% of the difference between your monthly wage and what you earn now, with the limit above. If you do not work, that is at most about € 4,718 gross a month including holiday pay from the third month (our calculation). It lasts three months to two years, depending on your work history.
• Wage supplement (loonaanvullingsuitkering). You get this next if you earn at least half of what UWV says you can still earn. You also get it if UWV says you can earn at most 20% of your old wage. It follows the same 70% calculation. If UWV says you can earn more than 20% and you earn between half and all of that amount, the calculation uses what you could earn, not what you do earn.
• Follow-up benefit (vervolguitkering). You get this if UWV says you can earn more than 20% of your old wage, and you earn less than half of what UWV says you can earn. It is then based on the minimum wage, or on your own monthly wage if that is lower, and no longer on your salary. It is 28% to 50.75% of that amount, depending on how disabled you are (35 to 80%). With the minimum wage of € 2,337 gross a month plus holiday pay on 1 July 2026, that is about € 707 to € 1,281 gross a month including holiday pay (our calculation). If nothing changes, it runs until AOW age.

UWV checks every month which of the last two applies. Not everyone falls to the follow-up benefit, but if you do, the drop from a good salary is large. That is what WGA gap insurance is for.

What may my employer have arranged on top?

Many employers have already arranged extra disability cover. There are two main products, and they are often mixed up. Some employers also have a third.

How do I find out what my employer arranged?

Ask HR or your benefits department. These papers and questions give you the answer.

• Brochure and certificate. Ask for the employee brochure or certificate of the WIA insurance, and for the employment conditions or staff handbook.
• Payslip. Look on your latest payslip for a deduction for a WIA insurance. No deduction does not prove there is no cover, so ask HR as well.
• Your salary. Is your wage above the WIA limit insured, and up to what amount?
• Benefit period. Does the policy pay until AOW age, or for a shorter time? Ask for this in writing, because the policy counts, not the brochure.
• Sick pay. What does your employer pay in year one and in year two, and over which part of your salary?
• Below 35%. Is there any cover if UWV assesses you below 35%?
• Pension. Does your pension scheme have premium-free continuation if you become disabled? Without it, your pension build-up stops if you cannot work for a long time.

We also have a short questionnaire for HR, in Dutch (pdf). It takes them about five minutes. Send us the answers and we go through them with you in English.

What about my partner if I die?

Your pension scheme may pay your partner a pension, so look at that before you buy cover. Under the new pension rules (Wet toekomst pensioenen) this is risk cover before you retire: it pays if you die while you are employed. When your job ends and you have no new job straight after, the cover continues for three months, or six if your scheme says so, or for as long as you get unemployment or sickness benefit directly afterwards. After that it stops, unless you give up part of your retirement pension to continue it. What was built up before your scheme moved to the new rules stays. Your scheme rules show what applies to you.

You do not name a beneficiary: the scheme rules decide who counts as your partner. If you live together without being married, register your partner with your pension provider. On mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl you can see what your partner would get.

We do not advise on pension schemes. We only look at what yours pays out. Term life insurance is not tied to your employer, so it stays when you change jobs.

What happens if I am assessed below 35%?

You get no WIA benefit, and your employer's duty to continue your pay ends after 104 weeks, while your income can fall. This is the real gap in the system.

The starting point is that you stay with your own employer, in adapted or other work. The ban on dismissal during illness ends after two years. Dismissal for long-term illness still needs a reasonable ground and permission from UWV, and it must be unlikely that you recover within 26 weeks. If you lose your job you may get unemployment benefit (WW). That also counts your wage only up to the maximum daily wage, and it lasts three to 24 months, depending on your work history.

This gap is hard to insure. Mortgage payment protection insurance (woonlastenverzekering) usually starts at 35% too, so it usually does not help here. Cover below 35% comes from your employer, if it has that. Otherwise you usually bridge it yourself.

When is extra cover worth it, and when not?

It is worth it only if a real gap remains after you have checked what is already there. Work in this order: what your employer continues to pay, what the law gives, what your employer has insured on top, what your pension scheme pays. Only then look at the gap and at the premium. Most policies do not pay above your actual income loss. So if you stack cover, you can pay premium for a benefit you never receive.

It is worth looking at if

• A real gap remains after those steps, one you have calculated and not just feel.
• Your employer has no WGA gap or WIA excess insurance, or the benefit period is short.
• Your housing costs are high compared with your income, and you have little buffer.

It is usually not worth it if

• Your employer has arranged the cover until AOW age.
• You have enough savings or home equity to bridge the period.
• The policy assesses you against generally accepted work (gangbare arbeid) while you have a specific occupation. The chance of a benefit is then small.
• Your medical history falls under the exclusion for existing conditions. Those are usually excluded, and we tell you that before you apply.

For an employee, the product to look at is usually mortgage payment protection insurance. It pays a monthly amount for your housing costs if you cannot work, and you apply with a medical questionnaire. An individual disability policy (AOV) is usually not the product for an employee. And payment protection does not replace term life insurance: the first covers income while you are alive, the second covers death.

What if I have my own company or freelance work?

Then you need a different page. As a freelancer you are not compulsorily insured for the WIA. Neither are you as a DGA (directeur-grootaandeelhouder): a director who can decide on their own dismissal, also through a holding company, or together with a spouse or family. Read disability insurance for freelancers and directors.

Leaving your job to work for yourself? You can apply for voluntary insurance with UWV within 13 weeks after your compulsory cover ends. The conditions are on that same page.

What can you do for me, and how are you paid?

We go through your sick pay, your employer's cover and what your pension scheme pays out, and we work out what income remains. If nothing is missing, we tell you. If there is a gap, we compare what is available and tell you if it is worth the premium. We do this in English, across the Netherlands. Policy terms are often in Dutch, so we go through them with you.

We are not an insurer and we are not tied to one. If your employer takes out collective WGA gap or WIA excess insurance through us, we receive commission from the insurer. Your employer can ask us how much. Dutch law bans commission on mortgage payment protection and on individual disability insurance. For those, the insurer pays us nothing and we agree a fee with you before any work starts. The intro conversation is without obligation.