Tel mee met Taal (Count on skills) programme

Do you employ staff who do not speak Dutch well or lack digital or calculus skills (limited language skills)? Or do you run pre-school care and do you have communication problems with parents who do not speak Dutch well? You may be eligible for the Tel mee met Taal (Count on skills) subsidy scheme.

Tackling low literacy

Tel mee met Taal offers a subsidy for activities aimed at preventing and reducing low literacy. Employers and organizations in the Netherlands, and in the Caribbean part of the Netherlands, may apply for the subsidy.

Please note: There are some differences to the scheme for the Caribbean part compared to the European Netherlands.

You can apply for a maximum of €125.000 and you have to bear part of the cost yourself. The maximum amount for applications in the Caribbean part of the Netherlands is €100.000. The subsidy programme Tel mee met Taal (Count on skills) consists of:

• Tel mee met Taal (Count on skills) employees: for employers who want to offer training to their employees with low literacy skills. This applies to language, digital, and calculus skills.
• Tel mee met Taal (Count on skills) parents: for organizations that want to invest in language, digital and calculus skills of parents. For instance, schools, day cares, libraries, and youth healthcare institutions.

When do you qualify?

Tel mee met Taal (Count on skills) employees

The training needs to improve your employees’ language skills, calculus, and/or digital skills. You may only use the subsidy for training of your employees’ language skills if they have a language level below 2F. The training can also be offered to temporary staff, for instance, freelancers or agency workers who work for your company. To be eligible as an employer, you need to fulfil certain conditions for the subsidy Tel mee met Taal (Count on skills) employees.

Tel mee met Taal (Count on skills) parents

The subsidy is meant to help out parents with low language, calculus, and/or digital skills. Organizations must apply together with at least 2 other parties for the Tel mee met Taal for parents subsidy. 1 of the parties must either be a local library, a youth healthcare institution, an educational institution, or a pre-school facility. A municipality must support the application. Read more about the conditions for Tel mee met Taal (Count on skills) parents.

How to apply

You could apply for the Count on Skills subsidy with DUS-I from 1 January until and including 29 February 2024, using the following (Dutch-language) application forms:

• Count on skills employees (in Dutch)
• Count on skills parents (courses) (in Dutch)
• Count on skills parents (other activities) (in Dutch)