• You must fulfil the obligations set out by the job search requirement (‘sollicitatieplicht’). 
  • You must complete all of the tasks assigned to you in your Work Folder (‘Werkmap’) or in Mijn UWV. 
  • You must accept jobs that match your skills and experience and you must do your best to remain in work. 
  • You must report your monthly earnings to us every 4 weeks. You must do this even if you did not earn any money in a particular month. 
  • You must attend all appointments you have with us. 
  • You must inform us of a change in your circumstances within 1 week of that change occurring. 
  • You must have a valid ID. 
  • You must make sure the information you give us is accurate (for example, your contact details and living situation). 
  • You must provide us with a copy of any official documents we ask for (for example, pay slips and income tax returns).
  • You must keep all benefit-related documents for at least 2 years, preferably longer. 
  • You must be willing to participate in any research we carry out.

We will regularly check that you are meeting these obligations.

Generally, working while receiving an unemployment benefit is better for you financially. If the amount you earn from paid employment is less than your average monthly unemployment benefit income (‘WW-maandloon’), the unemployment benefit will act as a supplement to this income. 

If you earn over 87.5% of your average monthly unemployment benefit income for 2 months in a row, we will stop your unemployment benefit. Keep in mind that you must still fulfil all of your obligations until your benefit has stopped.

You have a right to build up holiday pay (‘vakantiegeld’) and holiday time while receiving an unemployment benefit. You can take up to 20 days of holiday per calendar year. This increases to 65 days if you will reach the state pension age (‘AOW-leeftijd’) within 1 year. Keep in mind that you should let us know about any holidays you have planned by completing the Change of circumstances form when on an unemployment benefit (‘Wijzigingsformulier WW’). Do this at least 1 day before your holiday begins. You will need a DigiD account to do this.

Retraining or going back into education can improve your chances on the job market. If this is something you would like to do, there are various financial options available to help cover the costs. Keep in mind that you should let us know that you have returned to education.

How to let us know you are returning to education

You must let us know if you find a course you intend to follow. To do this, send a message to your UWV employment adviser (‘UWV adviseur werk’) via the Work Folder messaging service. You can access your Work Folder by logging into Mijn UWV. In your message, make sure you include the following information:

  • the course title 
  • the name of the course provider 
  • the duration of the course

Job search requirement while studying

If you follow a course that might increase your chances of finding a job, you might not have to meet the job search requirement while you are studying. This is something your UWV employment adviser will decide.

If you choose to follow a course that will not improve your employability, you must continue to actively look for employment while you are studying. You will also need to accept a job that is a good fit for you (‘passend werk’), even if this means you must temporarily or permanently stop following your course.

Doing a work placement

If you are thinking of doing a work placement or internship, it is important that you discuss this first with your UWV employment adviser. Keep in mind this can impact the amount of unemployment benefit you are entitled to receive. You will need to let us know about any internship pay you receive when you report your monthly earnings to us. You should also tell us how many hours you have worked as part of the work placement or internship.

How does student funding affect your unemployment benefit?

If you are receiving student funding for your studies at the same time as you are being paid an unemployment benefit, in most cases you will not have to report this to us. The only time we will ask for information about student funding is when you are receiving an UWV top-up benefit (‘toeslag’) in addition to the unemployment benefit.