Are you a healthcare provider? And do you have employees who became ill for a long period at the beginning of the corona pandemic due to COVID-19 (long COVID)? You can apply for the subsidy scheme Retaining long-term sick care workers (Behoud langdurig zieke zorgwerknemers, Blzz).
With this scheme you can get a reimbursement if you agree, or have already agreed, on a longer period for recovery and reintegration with your sick employee. You will receive €1,100 for each month of continued payment.
When do you qualify?
You can apply for this scheme if:
- you and your employee have voluntarily made arrangements on continued payment for at least 6 months after 2 years of illness
- your employee fell ill for a long period between 1 March and 31 December 2020
- the Employee Insurance Agency (Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemersverzekeringen, UWV) has confirmed the extension of payment
For more information on this scheme, you can read the questions and answers at the website of subsidy implementation agency DUS-I (in Dutch) or send them an email. You can also find all conditions on DUS-I’s website (in Dutch).
How to apply?
You could apply for the subsidy scheme Retaining long-term sick care workers to DUS-I. There were 3 application rounds: from 15 June through 31 July 2022, 1 August 2022 until and including 31 October 2022, and from 1 November 2022 through 1 February 2023.
Reporting and record-keeping
If you apply for this scheme, you must report any changes. For instance, if you and your employee agree to shorten or extend the period for continued payment. Or if you stop the continued payment because your employee starts work as normal again. You have to report these changes at once (duty to report).
Do you receive more than €25,000 from this scheme? Then you have to keep records and retain these for at least 10 years (record-keeping duty).