RVA: 40,500 jobless will get unemployment benefit back
About 40,500 people who lost their unemployment benefit under the reform that limits it in time will receive it after all, the National Employment Office (RVA) announced on Friday. The first payments are expected in November at the earliest.
The decision follows a ruling by the Constitutional Court on 10 September 2026. Trade unions had challenged the reform that limits unemployment benefit to a maximum of two years. The court largely upheld it but annulled part of the transitional rules. Long-term jobless people who were left with only 9, 8 or 6 months of benefit under those rules were treated unequally, the court found, because the new system in principle gives at least 12 months. In the first three waves of the reform, benefit ended earlier than that.
According to the RVA, about 88,000 people lost their right to unemployment benefit in the first six months. Around 7,500 of them have since received a sickness benefit or a pension, and almost 40,000 received a living wage (leefloon) from their OCMW. About 40,500 people are now due a full unemployment benefit again. Those who received a living wage or sickness benefit in the meantime will also be paid the difference with the unemployment benefit.
What to do: if you were in the third benefit period and your benefit ended in one of the first three waves, on 1 January, 1 March or 1 April 2026, watch your post and contact your payment body, either your trade union or the HVW, to confirm whether you are included. Keep your letters from the RVA and any living wage or sickness benefit decisions, because they show the periods involved. Payments are not expected before November.