To qualify for an IOW benefit after your unemployment benefit ends, you must meet all of the following criteria:

• Your unemployment benefit started on or after 1 January 2020 and no later than 31 December 2027.
• You were 60 years and 4 months or older on your first day of unemployment.
• Your unemployment benefit reached its maximum duration.
• You received your unemployment benefit for more than 3 months because you worked for at least 4 full years out of the last 5 years before you became unemployed (‘jareneis’). Or your 3-month unemployment benefit was extended with the remaining period from a previous unemployment benefit.

To qualify for an IOW benefit after your salary-linked WGA benefit ends, you must meet all of the following criteria:

• Your salary-linked WGA benefit started on or after 1 January 2020 and you were 60 years and 4 months or older at that time.
• Your salary-linked WGA benefit started no later than 31 December 2027.
• Your salary-linked WGA benefit reached its maximum duration.

You can only receive an IOW benefit if you are living in the Netherlands. If you are abroad for any reason other than a holiday, you will not receive your benefit.

If you retire before reaching the state pension age, this may affect your IOW benefit. We will deduct the following types of income from your IOW benefit: 

• early retirement pension ('pre-pensioen')
• part-time pension ('deeltijdpensioen')
• flexible pension ('flexpensioen')
• employer pension ('ouderdomspensioen')

This means you will receive a lower IOW benefit. In some cases, we might stop paying your IOW benefit altogether.

Contact us and your pension provider ('pensioenuitvoerder') if you would like to know how taking early retirement will affect your situation.