Hiring freelancers in care after 2025: what do the courts look at and what changes on 31 December 2026?

Yes, you may hire freelancers in care, if the relationship really is that of a client and an entrepreneur. The court looks at all circumstances together: how free the freelancer is in shifts and working method, whether they may arrange a replacement, what they earn and whether they behave as an entrepreneur. The fact that the freelancer does the same work as your permanent staff does not decide it.

False self-employment means that someone works as a freelancer but is in reality an employee. Then you must pay payroll taxes and the worker has the rights of an employee.

In this article

1. May a care business still hire freelancers?
2. How does a court test whether a freelance care worker is really an employee?
3. What weighed heavily in the case of the freelance care worker in Roermond?
4. What changes on 31 December 2026?
5. What will the Belastingdienst do in 2026 and 2027?
6. What is the risk if you hire freelancers through an agency?
7. How do you set up the collaboration with a freelance care worker?

May a care business still hire freelancers?

Yes. Since 1 January 2025 the Belastingdienst has been enforcing fully again, but the rules themselves have not changed. In September 2025 the Minister of Health wrote that there is no stricter enforcement, and that working inside or outside employment as was possible before 2025 is still possible (Appendix to the Proceedings II 2025/26, no. 15).

The same minister also wrote that false self-employment occurs in home care and childcare. To the extent that fewer falsely self-employed people work in those sectors, the government calls that positive in principle (Appendix to the Proceedings II 2025/26, no. 15).

The number of freelancers in care has been falling since 2025. According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the number of freelancers in care and welfare rose from 89 thousand in the third quarter of 2015 to a peak of 166 thousand in the first quarter of 2024. In the third quarter of 2025 there were 141 thousand. CBS names enforcement against false self-employment as one of the possible reasons (CBS, Data on self-employed in care and welfare, 2025).

How does a court test whether a freelance care worker is really an employee?

In two steps. First the court establishes what the parties agreed, including what they could reasonably expect of each other. Then it looks at whether those agreements have the characteristics of an employment contract, regardless of what the parties themselves intended (District Court of Limburg, 26 August 2026, ECLI:NL:RBLIM:2026:9159).

In that second step the court uses the nine points from the Supreme Court's 2023 Deliveroo judgment. These include the nature and duration of the work, how work and working hours are determined, embedding in the organisation, whether the work must be done personally, how the pay is determined, whether the worker runs a commercial risk and whether they behave as an entrepreneur (ECLI:NL:RBLIM:2026:9159). No single point is decisive on its own. Everything is weighed together.

More on the general rules of the Wet DBA is in a separate article (Wet DBA and false self-employment). Below we cover what works out differently in care.

What weighed heavily in the case of the freelance care worker in Roermond?

A freelance care worker worked through an agency for a disability care institution, for € 45 per hour. After termination he argued that he was an employee. The court rejected that. There was no employment contract with the institution, nor with the agency (District Court of Limburg, ECLI:NL:RBLIM:2026:9159).

The court did not find it decisive that he did the same work as the permanent staff. According to the ruling, that is inherent in nursing, caring for and supporting clients and does not yet point to employment. He only had to follow the care plan, the professional standard and care legislation, not separate instructions from the institution (ECLI:NL:RBLIM:2026:9159).

What did weigh heavily (ECLI:NL:RBLIM:2026:9159):

• He chose per shift whether he worked, and could cancel up to 24 hours in advance.
• If he could not attend, he had to arrange a replacement himself. The court found that this did not fit an employment contract.
• His rate of € 45 was far above the collective agreement hourly wage of € 19.18 in disability care.
• He was paid nothing during illness or holidays and bore his own costs.
• He also worked for other clients, was registered with the KVK, had a VAT number and his own business liability insurance.
• He did not take part in team meetings or staff events and had no performance reviews.

This is one ruling by a district court, not settled case law. It does show which arrangements make the difference in care. If a freelancer works a fixed roster, without replacement and at a rate close to the collective agreement wage, the outcome may be different.

What changes on 31 December 2026?

On that date the presumption of an employment contract comes into force. Anyone who works for another at an hourly rate of at most the statutory amount is presumed to be an employee (Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 2026, 158, article 7:610aa Civil Code). The date is set in the commencement decree (Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 2026, 207).

There is still uncertainty about the amount. The text of the act mentions at most € 36 per hour, and that amount rises with the minimum wage (Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 2026, 158). Ondernemersplein mentions € 38 per hour since 1 January 2026 (Ondernemersplein, Low hourly rate of a freelancer can lead to an employment contract). Exactly which amount applies on 31 December 2026 is yet to follow.

The presumption only works in civil law. It gives the worker a stronger position in court. It does not apply to a personal budget holder: the act says the article does not apply if the client is a private individual not acting in the course of a profession or business (article 7:610aa(3) Civil Code).

Even without the presumption, a personal budget situation can amount to false self-employment. According to the Minister of Social Affairs, authority is more likely for simple work, such as domestic help, and less likely for specialised work, such as medical procedures (Letter from the Minister of Social Affairs on false self-employment with personal budgets, 8 July 2025).

What will the Belastingdienst do in 2026 and 2027?

Since 1 January 2025 the normal rules apply again. If the Belastingdienst establishes false self-employment, it can immediately impose correction obligations and additional payroll tax assessments. In 2026 penalties for intent or gross negligence can be imposed, but not yet penalties for default. Additional assessments go back no further than 1 January 2025, except in case of bad faith (Belastingdienst, Employment relationships and enforcement).

From 1 January 2027 these last parts of the soft landing also disappear. Enforcement on employment relationships then becomes part of regular enforcement again (Parliamentary paper 36 783, D, 5 June 2026).

What is the risk if you hire freelancers through an agency?

That depends on what the agency does. If it only matches supply and demand, there is no employment relationship with the agency. That is how the court in Roermond ruled on a pure matching agreement (ECLI:NL:RBLIM:2026:9159).

If the agency itself arranges the contract with the institution, the rates, replacement during illness and payment, the agency itself may owe payroll taxes. In 2024 the Amsterdam Court of Appeal upheld an additional payroll tax assessment of € 379,495 on an agency in private home care for 2007 and 2008. The care workers only made agreements with the agency, the agency arranged replacement during illness and the institutions only agreed rates with the agency (Amsterdam Court of Appeal, 17 December 2024, ECLI:NL:GHAMS:2024:3700).

That case concerns an old period and a deemed employment, a tax law rule under which someone counts as an employee for payroll taxes without a real employment contract. The lesson for now: when hiring through an agency, look at who makes the agreements and who arranges replacement.

How do you set up the collaboration with a freelance care worker?

Make sure the practice fits an assignment, not just the contract. The points that weighed heavily in Roermond give a practical list:

• let the freelancer choose per shift and arrange their own replacement
• agree a rate clearly above the collective agreement wage and pay only for hours worked
• give no instructions beyond the care plan, professional standard and legislation, and hold no performance reviews
• ask for KVK registration, insurance and other clients, and keep those details

Check regularly whether the collaboration still works that way. The Belastingdienst points out that the way of working together can change over time (Belastingdienst, Employment relationships and enforcement). A freelancer who after a year works the same shifts every week is in a different situation than at the start.

Research shows that freelancers in care are not one group. Interviews with 23 self-employed nurses and nursing aides in long-term care showed a difference between those who could afford to be self-employed and those who felt squeezed out of the organisation (Duijs et al., 2022). Nationally, in 2017 about 7% of freelancers were dependent on one client, and almost 20% did not start voluntarily (Kösters & Smits, 2021).

If you prefer employment, first calculate what an employee costs under the collective agreement, including pension and employer charges (VVT collective agreement calculator).

Sources

• Appendix to the Proceedings of the House of Representatives 2025/26, no. 15, answer by the Minister of Health, received 19 September 2025 (in Dutch). officielebekendmakingen.nl
• CBS, Data on self-employed in care and welfare: trends, businesses, clients, chapter 2, 2025 (in Dutch). cbs.nl
• District Court of Limburg, 26 August 2026, ECLI:NL:RBLIM:2026:9159 (in Dutch). uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl
• Amsterdam Court of Appeal, 17 December 2024, ECLI:NL:GHAMS:2024:3700 (in Dutch). uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl
• Act of 18 June 2026 introducing a presumption of an employment contract based on an hourly rate, Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 2026, 158 (in Dutch). officielebekendmakingen.nl
• Commencement decree, Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 2026, 207 (in Dutch). officielebekendmakingen.nl
• Ondernemersplein, Low hourly rate of a freelancer can lead to an employment contract (in Dutch), accessed 1 November 2026. ondernemersplein.overheid.nl
• Belastingdienst, Employment relationships and enforcement (in Dutch), accessed 1 November 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Memorandum in response to the report, Parliamentary paper 36 783, D, 5 June 2026 (in Dutch). officielebekendmakingen.nl
• Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, Letter on the risk of false self-employment in personal budget situations, 8 July 2025 (in Dutch). open.overheid.nl
• Duijs, S.E., Abma, T., Plak, O. et al. (2022). Squeezed out: experienced precariousness of self-employed care workers in residential long-term care, from an intersectional perspective. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 79(5), 1799-1814. doi.org
• Kösters, L. & Smits, W. (2021). 'Genuine' or 'quasi' self-employment: who can tell? Social Indicators Research, 161(1), 191-224. doi.org