Labour costs compensation (LKV) for employing older or disabled persons

Do you have a company in the Netherlands and do you take 1 or more people into employment who have difficulty finding work? For instance people over the age of 56 and on unemployment benefits, people on incapacity benefit, or people who have occupational limitations? You may be eligible for Labour Costs Compensation (Loonkostenvoordeel, LKV, in Dutch). The LKV is an annual compensation for employers who take 1 or more older people or persons with occupational limitations or disability on unemployment benefits into employment.

When do you qualify?

In order to receive Labour Costs Compensation (LKV), the employee you hire must belong to one of the following groups:

• persons aged 56 or older
• persons with an occupational disability entering your employment for the first time
• persons eligible for protected employment placements as described in the so-called Jobs Agreement (Banenafspraak), an agreement between government and employers to improve the participation of this group in the labour market (in Dutch)
• persons with an occupational disability reassigned within your organisation

With the Dutch-language decision aid tool for the LKV scheme you can check if your employee falls within 1 of these categories. You can find the conditions for each target group on the Employment Insurance Agency’s website (in Dutch).

How to apply?

You apply for the LKV with your wage tax declaration. For this you need an LKV target group declaration (doelgroepverklaring, in Dutch) from your prospective employee. Your prospective employee can apply for an LKV target group declaration (in Dutch) from the Employment Insurance Agency (UWV) if he or she belongs to one of the target groups listed above. If the employee belongs to the group of 56 years of age and up and they receive benefits from the municipality, they apply to the municipality for the target group declaration.

You can also apply for a target group declaration yourself, if your employee has authorised you (in Dutch).