WW Duration Calculator - Dutch Unemployment Benefit

Estimate how many months of Dutch unemployment benefit (WW) your employment history gives you, including the notional years that count automatically for people born in 1979 or earlier.

How WW Duration Is Calculated

The length of a Dutch unemployment benefit follows your employment history, not your salary or the reason you lost your job. The rule is straightforward on paper: one month of WW for every full calendar year of employment history, and from the eleventh year onwards half a month per year. The result is never shorter than three months and never longer than twenty-four, however long your career was.

Employment history has two components, and the second one surprises people. Your actual history counts the calendar years since 1998 in which you worked enough days. On top of that comes notional history: if you were born in 1979 or earlier, every year from the year you turned eighteen up to and including 1997 counts automatically, whether or not you actually worked. Someone born in 1970 therefore starts with nine notional years before a single worked year is added, which is often the difference between a one year and a two year entitlement.

Two caps do the rest of the work. The minimum of three months applies even to a short history, provided you meet the eligibility conditions. The maximum of twenty-four months means a forty year career and a thirty year career give exactly the same duration. If your estimate hits that ceiling, extra years of work no longer extend the benefit.

Treat the outcome as an estimate. UWV determines your employment history from payroll records, and their count of which years qualify can differ from your own. Whether you are entitled at all is a separate question: the weeks requirement, the reason your employment ended, and your availability for work are all assessed independently of this calculation.

If your job is ending, the duration is only one part of the picture. The notice period your employer must observe and any severance payment are governed by different rules, and both affect when the WW actually starts.

Dutch rules toolkit

This is one of 21 tools built on actual Dutch regulations rather than generic maths: salary and severance, notice periods and WW duration, BTW and mortgages, public holidays, AOW age, and GDPR-safe test data for Dutch systems.

See all Dutch tools

How the WW Duration Calculator Works

  1. 01Enter your year of birth and the number of years you worked since 1998
  2. 02Notional years are added automatically if you were born in 1979 or earlier
  3. 03The first ten years count as one month each, later years as half a month
  4. 04The result is capped between the statutory minimum of 3 and maximum of 24 months

Employment History Decides the Duration

WW duration follows employment history, not salary or the reason the job ended. One month per year for the first ten years, half a month per year after that, with a floor of three months and a ceiling of twenty-four. Notional history is the part people forget: for anyone born in 1979 or earlier, the years from turning eighteen up to and including 1997 count automatically, which often adds a decade before a single worked year is counted.

When to Use the WW Duration Calculator

Use it when your job is ending and you want to know roughly how long the safety net lasts, when planning how much runway you have before finding new work, or when checking whether extra years of work would still extend your entitlement. UWV makes the binding calculation from payroll records, so treat this as an estimate.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are notional years?→
Years that count towards your employment history even though you may not have worked. If you were born in 1979 or earlier, every year from the year you turned eighteen up to and including 1997 counts automatically. People born in 1980 or later get none, because they turned eighteen after the window closed.
Does a higher salary give a longer WW?→
No. Salary determines the amount of the benefit, not its duration. Duration depends only on employment history, capped at twenty-four months.
Is twenty-four months really the maximum?→
Yes. A career of thirty or forty years gives the same duration as one that reaches the ceiling. Beyond that point, extra years no longer extend the entitlement.
Does this tool decide whether I get WW at all?→
No. It estimates duration only. Entitlement depends on separate conditions, including the weeks requirement and the reason your employment ended, which UWV assesses.

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