Social assistance benefits in the Netherlands

The right to a minimum subsistence level in the Netherlands is covered by a comprehensive network of schemes. All schemes are part of a rights-based system: if the conditions are fulfilled, this creates a right to social assistance benefit. The most important Act is the Participation Act, the main features of which are described in this paper. Attention will be paid to conditions for benefits and the increasingly strict obligations and sanctions. This paper provides insight into some of the consequences of the recently implemented decentralization policy in the Netherlands.