Dutch Government pays up to € 2700 a year for an internship

27th of June 2018

Applying for a grant must be done between June 2nd and September 17th 2018. One of the most important export products in the Netherlands is its knowledge. Therefore, the Dutch Government supports education a lot. The Dutch Government encourages a smooth transition to close the gap between study and work. The Government does this by encouraging employers to provide internships.

This grant is not new, but now is the time to inform:

• This is the period to apply for it.
• Some legislation is changed positively (possibilities have been expanded).
• The checks are becoming stricter.
• This legislation may end by December 31st 2018,  but it is possible that the legislation will be continued after 2018.

Goal

The grant is a payment from the Government to cover the costs incurred by an employer for the supervision of an internship. The grant is also a compensation for the salary or supervision costs for a PhD student or technological designer in training (toio). The grant scheme mainly focuses on:

• vulnerable groups in the labor market where youth unemployment is a major problem.
• students who follow a course in sectors where there is a deficiency in qualified personnel.
• scientific staff, who are indispensable for the Dutch knowledge economy.

The period of application

For the school year 2017/2018 you can submit an application starting the 2nd of June 2018 (09.00 hours) until the 17th of September 2018 (17.00 hours). Within this period of submission you can apply for a grant for the guidance in the 2017/2018 school year. The 2017/2018 school year runs from  August 1st 2017 until July 31st 2018. You can submit your application after the guidance has ended.

The application must be submitted digitally via the eLoket or RVO.nl. An eRecognition level 1 is needed. For the application you use data that is already in your possession, such as the (practical learning) agreement. Do not wait until the last moment to do the application, but apply as soon as possible after completing the guidance. More information about applications and about decisions on and payment of applications can be found on https://english.rvo.nl/.
Note: Use the new csv files for VMBO and MBO. These can be found on my.rvo.nl. Unfortunately, you cannot use the forms from previous years.

Changes in legislation

To be eligible to receive a grant, you must meet a number of conditions. These can differ per education category: VMBO, MBO-BBL, HBO, PhD students and Toio’s. Starting the 2017/2018 school year this scheme is also expanded to pupils in the VSO, PRO and Entree in VMBO.

Stricter checks

With the digital application there is no need to show the administrative evidence, but they will ask for it during a possible inspection by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) afterwards. The RVO does not impose any regulations on exactly how to carry out this administration. The absence of binding regulations allows employers to set up their own grant administration, but it does make it more difficult to adequately anticipate on possible checks. In the event of a check, the RVO

1.  wants to check the agreements signed by all (three) necessary parties regarding the education-work relation;
2. wants to check the attendance record of the participant regarding the labour hours;
3. wants to check the administration showing that supervision has taken place (the progress of the professional training) and the way in which the learning objectives / qualities / qualifications with regard to vocational guidance have been achieved.

In the field we have experienced some serious discussions between appliers and RVO on the evidence of the second and third checkpoints. Therefore, we advise you to substantially expand and specify this in your administration, to prevent the grant from being reclaimed. We have adjusted our forms to this level for this year.

Last time to apply?

The legislation for this grant formally ends on December 31st of this year. This summer the Dutch Government will decide whether or not this grant will be continued after 2018.

If you employ Dutch staff members who are also affiliated with a course, we can help you with applying for this grant and providing the forms and procedures for the evidence.