After the fall of the Cabinet, political parties will be especially busy in the coming weeks with: "Who will be my new party leader?", "Which candidates will be on the electoral list?" and "How do we come up with an expert and solid committee to write a new party program?". We do still have a missionary House of Representatives that will make a decision on whether a caretaker government can continue working on certain bills and plans.

Minister Van Gennip (SZW) was starting to get pretty much up to speed, so she planned to bring a number of legislative proposals to the fore after the summer. One of these plans was to create a clearer distinction between employees and the self-employed through the 'embedding' criterion and the entrepreneurial criteria as a contraindication of an employment contract. There is a chance that the House of Representatives will declare this bill controversial.

Should that be the case, the introduction of new legislation will be delayed and for a longer period of time there will be (legal) uncertainty as to when one is an employee and when one is self-employed. It remains to be seen what the ratio will be in the new Lower House and what plans the next cabinet will come up with for the labor market and the self-employed dossier. Introduction on January 1, 2025 will therefore not be realistic.

Disability Insurance
Second, we have the introduction of compulsory disability insurance (AOV) for the self-employed. Recently, this regulation has been in the media a lot and it has also been hotly debated in the House of Representatives. For this dossier, too, there is certainly a chance that it will be declared controversial. At the same time, the caretaker government is in a quandary, since the plans have been negotiated in the polder between employers and employees and the Netherlands has promised the European Union to offer more protection to the self-employed against the consequences of occupational disability.

Enforcement on labor relations
Finally, we have the section "enforcement on labor relations" by the Tax Administration. The coalition agreement stipulates that as of January 1, 2025, the enforcement moratorium will be lifted. Shortly before the fall of the cabinet, a motion was passed by the PvdA and GroenLinks to enforce sectorally and start in the social sectors of care, education and childcare. This sectoral approach and the abolition of the enforcement moratorium do not require a new bill. However, it is desirable, also for the Tax Administration itself, to have a clearer legal distinction between employees and the self-employed. In the fall, the Tax Administration will come up with a new enforcement plan. This plan will also provide more clarity on the timeline toward January 1, 2025.

These are exciting and turbulent times in political The Hague. After the summer recess, we expect to get more clarity on all the plans and bills related to the labor market and the self-employed dossier. We will keep you informed!