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

Your (future) place of residence falls under:

Municipality of Westerwolde

Here is some information from your municipality.

Municipality of Westerwolde: Applying for social assistance

Are you without a job and not enough income to live on? If so, you can apply for social welfare benefits. You can only request welfare assistance if you are a resident of the Netherlands and registered with a municipality.

How it works?

After you register as a job seeker, you can apply for welfare through work.com. After that, you will be contacted as to what type of work you can do.
Do you not have a DigiD (Digital Identity)? Visit de website van DigiD and apply for a DigiD.

Younger than age 27?

You register at werk.nl
You will receive a notification that you are under the age of twenty-seven
You will first receive a 28-day job search period. During this period, you need to look for work or an education
Once the 28 days have passed, you complete your application on work.com
You will be called after your application is received.

[Optie 1]

[knop online Bijstand aanvragen via de gemeente]

[Optie 2]

For more information, and to apply for social assistance, you can go to [website van organisatie X].

We will decide within 8 weeks.

More information