National Employment Office to issue warning letters on unemployment benefit limits
The National Employment Office (RVA) will begin sending warning letters about the limiting of unemployment benefits from mid-September. The initial letters will be sent to people who have been unemployed for more than 20 years.
The government is reforming unemployment benefits, restricting entitlement based on the duration of a person's unemployment and previous employment history.
People affected by the reform will receive a letter, which will be sent in waves, the agency announced in a press release. Letters will be delivered both by post and via the digital eBox.
The first letters are scheduled to be sent by post from 15 September and via eBox from 13 September. The initial wave will reach around 10,700 people who have been fully unemployed for at least 20 years. Their entitlement to benefits will end on 1 January.
Integration benefit
In addition, roughly 18,100 recipients of an integration benefit will also receive letters. Those who have received integration benefits for at least one year will see their entitlement expire on 1 January. This benefit is aimed at young people who have not yet entered the workforce.
Two further waves of letters will follow in mid-October and mid-November, targeting people whose benefits will end on 1 March and 1 April next year. Additional letters will be issued after that.
The Flemish employment agency VDAB has already taken steps in response to the reduction. Since July, more than 25,000 jobseekers in Flanders have been informed about the new rules, the agency said in a press release on Thursday.
This autumn, VDAB will intensify its efforts, with each province developing its own action plan. The focus will include matching candidates with vacancies through job fairs, engaging companies willing to train candidates and organising information sessions. Transfers to other agencies will also be arranged for jobseekers with physical, psychological or social disabilities.
“Our goal is clear: to convert as many benefits as possible into wages by guiding people towards a job that suits them,” said VDAB managing director Wim Adriaens.
© PHOTO IMAGEBROKER
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