Applying for social assistance
If you have too little money to get by, you may be entitled to social assistance (bijstand). You can apply for social assistance at your municipality or the werk.nl website, an online work platform operated by the Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemersverzekeringen – UWV (Employee Insurance Agency).
You are entitled to social assistance if you:
are a Dutch citizen or lawfully resident in the Netherlands, and;
are aged 18 or over;
do not have enough income or funds to get by. Your (joint) income must be below the social assistance standard (in Dutch);
cannot claim any other provision or benefit;
are not in prison or in a detention house.
There are also a number of obligations when you receive social assistance (in Dutch).
This is how it works for you
Here is some information from your municipality.
Applying for social assistance
If you do not have enough money to live on, you may be entitled to social assistance benefits. This benefit supplements your income up to a minimum limit. You will receive social assistance benefits until you have enough income again.
No right to assistance
You are not entitled to social assistance benefits in the following situations:
you are younger than 18 years old;
you are single and you have more savings than € 7,575;
you are a married couple or a single parent with children under the age of 18 and you have more savings than € 15,150;
you are following a course and receive student financing or other compensation for this;
you are on unpaid leave or your partner is on unpaid leave. You may be entitled to special assistance;
you are abroad for more than four weeks;
you apply for assistance to pay off a debt. But before you took on that debt you had enough money to live on;
you have been forcibly admitted to a psychiatric hospital. You may be entitled to special assistance. You or your partner are without income due to participating in a strike;
you are in jail.
Questions about this topic?
Contact the Municipality of Hollands Kroon