Pilot project WGA activation

In 2014, the Dutch Employee Insurance Agency UWV started the pilot project WGA activation to activate people who benefit from the WGA (Return to Work of Partially Disabled Persons Scheme). The pilot project focuses UWV’s services to WGA beneficiaries on activation, with the objectives of helping them to find work and reducing benefit costs. The pilot project is expected to run until mid-2016 and has been implemented in the regional offices in The Hague, Breda, Heerlen, Enschede and Leeuwarden. The five pilot locations have a lot of freedom with regard to the implementation of the pilot project and have received additional budget to hire extra employees. The service provision within the framework of the pilot project has been in full force since September 2014. This second interim report uses data files on the service provision to people on WGA benefits and information on benefits and jobs of WGA beneficiaries up to and including December 2014.

The precise implementation of the pilot project varies between pilot sites. Most locations have more client meetings, increase the involvement of job hunters and offer workshops. UWV’s Sonar administration shows an increase in client meetings for all branches, and also of competency tests (in Leeuwarden, Breda and The Hague).

As for now, the developments at the pilot locations seem to be slightly positive (specifically a decrease in benefit costs and an increase in outflow). To what extent these developments are attributable to the services implemented within the framework of the aWGA pilot is the subject of the final report, which will be published in late 2016.