Does staggering apply to me?

Topics

• Income security

We started to apply the staggering of the earnings-related daily allowance from the beginning of September. This means that after a certain period of time, the level of the daily allowance will decrease. You will receive less money as unemployment becomes longer.

The staggering will reduce your earnings-related allowance in two stages

• 80% of the initial level, after we have paid you 40 days’ earnings-related allowance

• 75% of the initial level when we have paid you a daily allowance for 170 days  

Does it apply to me? 

During September, we have been asked a lot about staggering. The most typical question is whether staggering applies to me.

The simple answer is that staggering applies to everyone, including you. There are no exceptions, so it applies to everyone who receives income support. It applies equally to unemployed people, self-employed people, people who are laid off, people in employment services, part-time workers and people on additional days. 

Transition from old to new

The transition from the old law to the new one will lead to situations where we can pay you an earnings-related daily allowance without staggering.

Because of the transition, you will only be covered by the staggering system when you meet the working condition on or after 2.9.2024 and your working condition is 12 months.

For example, if your unemployment started last June, the staggering will only apply to you when you meet the working condition again. Similarly, if, for example, you were already working extra days before the change in the law, we can pay you the full daily earnings allowance without staggering until you retire.

Journey to the first step 

If you meet the 12-month working condition on 2.9.2024 and your first payment date after the waiting period is 11.9.2024, the limit of 40 payment days will be reached on 5.11.2024 at the earliest. 6.11.2024 will then be the first day on which we pay you an 80% staggered daily allowance.

If you have income from part-time work, the payment days will run more slowly. Then the first day on which we will pay you the adjusted staggered daily allowance will be later. For example, if your adjusted daily allowance is half of your full daily allowance, the 40-day time limit will not be reached until 80 days have elapsed.

Staggering does not affect 

If your daily allowance is small, there may be little or no practical effect of staggering. This is because we always pay at least the basic daily allowance. The amount of the basic allowance or the labour market subsidy is not reduced by the staggering.

So if your earnings-related daily allowance is equal to the basic allowance, the staggering will not reduce it any further. Conversely, if your earnings-related daily allowance is close to the basic allowance, the effect of staggering is smaller than normal.

Check the impact of staggering with our calculator 

On our website you can find the daily allowance calculator. You can use it to estimate the impact of the staggering reduction on your daily allowance.