Yet another new self-employed workers’ law?

The new government has announced its intention to amend the forthcoming Act on the Clarification of the Assessment of Employment Relationships and Legal Presumption (hereinafter: VBAR). Striking, but not entirely surprising. Although the bill has already been passed by the House of Representatives, the coalition agreement of 30 January 2026 announced that the coalition did not view the VBAR as a (sufficient) solution to the self-employed workers’ issues. The agreement hinted at a combination of the VBAR and the Self-Employed Persons Act. The exact form of this combination remained unclear until recently.

The most significant change is the removal of the section from the VBAR intended to clarify the assessment framework for classifying employment relationships. Instead, the government wishes to introduce the Self-Employed Persons Act as soon as possible. The Self-Employed Persons Act will then be combined with the legal presumption from the VBAR.

Need for clarity

Minister Thierry Aartsen of Work and Participation (VVD) confirms that the labour market needs clarity. The question is how yet another new bill will contribute to the intended clarity.

The main criticism of the VBAR was that it did not take sufficient account of the worker’s entrepreneurial activities. The intention is that the assessment framework under the Self-Employed Persons Act will address this criticism. Under the assessment framework from the Self-Employed Persons Act, the first step is to assess whether the worker can be classified as self-employed. To this end, the focus is primarily on the degree of entrepreneurship demonstrated by the worker.

The introduction of the ‘mixed’ legislative proposals will, incidentally, be some time coming, as the text of the new law is not yet known.

To offer a helping hand to the most vulnerable group of workers in the meantime, the Minister wishes to introduce the legal presumption as soon as possible. This means that if a worker earns less than EUR 38 per hour, they can, on the basis of the legal presumption, claim that they are performing their work under an employment contract. It is then up to the employer to rebut this legal presumption. The intention is for the legal presumption to be introduced at the start of next year (2027).

It remains to be seen whether the new bill will actually provide sufficient clarity. We will, of course, keep you informed.