Belgian local social services are seeing a sharper-than-expected influx of long-term unemployed people after the country’s recent reform ended unlimited unemployment benefits.
The winding down has pushed many thousands towards local social welfare offices as their entitlements expire.
“What is happening now was essentially written in the stars,” Christofer Govaerts, chief strategist at Nagelmackers, told Brussels Signal. “Once people lose their unemployment benefit, a significant share will inevitably turn to the OCMW [the Flemish social services].
“There was never any real doubt about that.”
At the beginning of February, around 19,000 people formed the first wave of claimants to lose either unemployment benefits or so-called insertion allowances under the new rules. Federal estimates had suggested that about one third of those excluded would seek support from local social services. Early data now indicates that the inflow may be higher.
In Belgium, those services are provided by municipal welfare offices — known as CPAS in French-speaking regions and OCMW in Flanders. They step in once federal unemployment payments stop.
Unlike unemployment benefits, which are part of the national social security system, assistance through CPAS or OCMW is means-tested, locally administered and subject to stricter conditions.
According to welfare organisations, unemployment benefits and social assistance operate under fundamentally different logics.
Unemployment insurance is part of Belgium’s social security system and is managed at federal level, with the aim of compensating workers who lose their job through no fault of their own. Beneficiaries must remain available for work, respond to summons, prove job-search efforts and accept suitable employment or training.
The trend is already visible in Flanders. According to public broadcaster VRT, around 4,000 people lost their unemployment benefit at the beginning of January, including individuals who had been unemployed for more than 20 years and young people. Slightly more than one in three has since applied for a subsistence income through an OCMW.
For Govaerts, the figures confirm what policymakers should have anticipated. “If you remove one form of income support, people don’t simply disappear,” he said. “They move to another part of the system.”
Belgium became the last European Union country to abolish unlimited unemployment benefits, a reform that has sparked controversy in the country.
The change was presented as a way to encourage a faster return to work and to align Belgium with its European neighbours, where unemployment benefits are time-limited.
What the reform does not eliminate, though, is public support altogether. Instead, it shifts part of the burden from the federal unemployment system to local welfare offices, which now have to assess eligibility for social assistance on a case-by-case basis.
Beyond financial aid, CPAS and OCMW provide a wide range of services, from debt mediation and energy support to housing assistance, healthcare costs and guidance back towards employment or training. Which services are offered, though, depends on local political and budgetary choices.
“About nine out of 10 people who apply to the OCMW will effectively receive a subsistence income,” Govaerts said. “So from a budgetary point of view, this is certainly not going to be a saving — quite the opposite.”
Under the rules in force as of February 2025, the same month current Prime Minister Bart De Wever was installed, the monthly subsistence income amounts to €1,314 for a single person, €876 for cohabiting individuals and €1,752 for someone with a dependent family. While these amounts are generally lower than unemployment benefits, they still represent a significant and ongoing public expense.
Welfare organisations note that access to this income is not automatic. Eligibility is assessed individually, based on household composition, available resources and residency. The right to social integration is examined as a priority when unemployment benefits are reduced or withdrawn.
“As to whether this really incentivises people to return to the labour market,” Govaerts added, “I have my doubts.”
