Waiting for money in home care: how to put Zvw, Wlz, Wmo and pgb into your cash flow forecast

In home care you pay first and receive money later. The care has been delivered, the hours have been recorded and the wages have been paid, but the money only arrives after the claim. How long that takes depends on who pays for the care: the health insurer, the care office, the municipality or the Social Insurance Bank (SVB) for a personal budget.

A cash flow forecast is an overview of the money coming in and going out over the coming weeks or months. If you put each funder on a line of its own, you see where the money gets stuck and how much you have to advance.

As at 1 November 2026. This article is about money and planning, not about the care itself. The worked examples are examples, not a standard.

In this article

1. Why does the money in home care arrive later than the costs?
2. Who pays for which care, and under which rules?
3. How quickly must the municipality pay?
4. How long do you wait for the health insurer, the care office and the SVB?
5. How do you put the funders into your cash flow forecast?
6. How much do you have to advance, and what do you do if the money is late?

Why does the money in home care arrive later than the costs?

Because in home care you almost always claim afterwards. You provide the care, record the hours and then send a claim to the funder. The funder checks it and pays. Meanwhile your costs simply continue: wages, holiday pay, freelancer invoices and the lease car or bicycle.

That check is also in the law. For the Long-term Care Act (Wlz), a care office concludes written agreements with care providers. These cover, among other things, the price, the administrative conditions and the check on the accuracy of the amounts claimed. Such an agreement lasts at most five years (Long-term Care Act, article 4.2.2).

The gap between the moment of the costs and the moment of the money is called pre-financing. The more your care business grows, the more money is in transit at the same time. Rapid growth can therefore cause a shortfall, even if every client is profitable.

Who pays for which care, and under which rules?

Each act has its own payer and its own route. For your forecast that is the most important distinction, because each route has its own pace and its own risks.

With a personal budget (pgb) the client buys the care themselves. The money does not go to the client, but the SVB makes the payments. For the Wlz this is in the law: the SVB pays on behalf of the care offices (Long-term Care Act, article 3.3.3(7)). For the Wmo the SVB does so on behalf of the municipality (Social Support Act 2015, article 2.6.2).

How quickly must the municipality pay?

Within 30 days, unless you agreed otherwise. A municipality is a public body. If no final payment date has been agreed, statutory interest is due from 30 days after receipt of the invoice (Civil Code, article 6:119b(2)).

A longer term is only allowed if it is expressly stated in the agreement and the special nature of the assignment objectively justifies it. Even then it is at most 60 days (Civil Code 6:119b(5)). If the municipality pays late, statutory commercial interest is due. Since 1 July 2026 that is 10.4% a year (Government of the Netherlands, level of statutory interest).

Note what counts as an invoice. Under the Wmo you often claim through a fixed message exchange with the municipality. Check in your contract when the municipality considers a claim received, and what happens if it is rejected. After a rejection you correct and claim again, and expect the wait to start over.

How long do you wait for the health insurer, the care office and the SVB?

That is not in a single act. For health insurers, care offices and the SVB we found no statutory payment term on 1 November 2026. The term follows from your contract, the funder's purchasing and claiming conditions and the way you claim. Take the term from your own contract, and also look at how long it takes in practice.

If you work without a contract with a health insurer, the client receives a reimbursement that the insurer sets itself (Health Insurance Act, article 13(1)). The insurer states in the policy how it calculates that reimbursement (article 13(2)). That amount can be lower than your rate. You then have to collect the difference from the client, or write it off.

A claim must also match a set service and rate. The Healthcare Market Regulation Act prohibits a rate that does not match the set rate, or a service without a set description (Wmg, article 35). A claim with the wrong service is therefore not paid, and that money only arrives after correction.

How do you put the funders into your cash flow forecast?

Give each funder its own line and its own delay. Do not use one average payment term for your entire turnover. In home care, a weekly forecast for the next three months is often more useful than an annual budget.

1. List per funder the expected care per month: hours times the rate from the contract.
2. Add the time you need yourself to claim, for example until the first week of the next month.
3. Add the payment term: 30 days for the municipality, and for the other funders the term from the contract or from your own experience.
4. Deduct a share for rejections and corrections, based on what you saw in recent months.
5. Put the expenses alongside in the week they actually leave your account: wages, payroll tax, pension contributions, freelancer invoices and rent.

How reliable such a forecast is, and how to keep it up to date, is covered in a separate article on the reliability of a cash flow forecast. For the wage costs of nurses and carers under the VVT cao there is a calculation tool on this site.

How much do you have to advance, and what do you do if the money is late?

Roughly the costs of the period between the care and the money, plus a margin for rejections. If the money arrives on average one month after the care, you advance roughly one month of costs. With two months, it is double. If you grow, that amount grows with you.

Late payment is a well-known problem for small businesses. In a British survey of 211 small manufacturing firms, 59.5% called late payment an important or very important problem. 89% said they also paid their own suppliers late to a greater or lesser extent (Peel, Wilson and Howorth, 2000). The research is old and was not about care. It does show how a shortfall passes along the chain.

• Keep track per funder of which claims are outstanding, and since when.
• Resolve rejections the same week. Nobody pays a rejected line.
• Hold the municipality to the 30-day term, and claim statutory commercial interest if needed.
• Only take on new clients once the needs assessment, decision or allocation is in place.

Which buffer suits your business also depends on your fixed costs and your growth. That is the subject of the article How much cash should a business keep as a buffer?

Sources

• Long-term Care Act (Wet langdurige zorg), articles 3.3.3 and 4.2.2, in force from 1 January 2026 (in Dutch). wetten.overheid.nl
• Health Insurance Act (Zorgverzekeringswet), article 13, in force from 5 July 2025 (in Dutch). wetten.overheid.nl
• Social Support Act 2015 (Wmo), article 2.6.2, in force from 1 July 2026 (in Dutch). wetten.overheid.nl
• Civil Code Book 6, article 119b, in force from 16 July 2026 (in Dutch). wetten.overheid.nl
• Healthcare Market Regulation Act (Wmg), article 35, in force from 1 September 2026 (in Dutch). wetten.overheid.nl
• Government of the Netherlands, What is the statutory interest rate? (in Dutch), accessed 1 November 2026. rijksoverheid.nl
• Peel, M.J., Wilson, N. & Howorth, C. (2000). Late payment and credit management in the small firm sector: some empirical evidence. International Small Business Journal, 18(2), 17-37. doi.org