What is the Participation Act?
Anyone who can work but needs support to do so has been covered by the Participation Act since January 1, 2015. The main goal of the Participation Act is to lead as many people as possible with work capacity to work or to support them in paid or voluntary work. The second goal of the Participation Act is to ensure that everyone has an income, including people who are unable to support themselves.
Social minimum of the Participation Act
The Participation Act provides a (supplementary) income up to the "social minimum." This is because social assistance is the last financial safety net in the Netherlands. So it may be that someone receives wages from employment, but therefore still falls below the social minimum. For example, because of a small employment contract. To be eligible for (additional) social assistance benefits under the Participation Act, various conditions must be met. One of these is that the income is below the social minimum.
No risk policy
The target group register registers everyone who belongs to the target group of the jobs agreement and is covered by the no-risk policy. The UWV manages this register. UWV and municipalities are jointly responsible for the topicality and correctness of the data in this register. An employer can use an application form to ask whether an employee is in the target group register. Perhaps the employee himself knows that there is a no risk policy because he falls under the Participation Act. You may ask the employee this after 2 months in service. If your employee cannot answer this question, an employer can have it verified at the UWV for a fee.
What is the benefit of knowing this? In case of a sick/can you report this to the UWV, and you will get back the wage costs. On a sick out, this employee also goes back to the UWV, and they will transfer this employee back to the municipality.
