Coalition Agreement: Royal Decree definitively abolishes SWT

On September 15, 2025, the royal decree (RD) abolishing the regime of unemployment with company supplement (SWT) (Dutch: “Stelsel van werkloosheid met bedrijfstoeslag”) was published in the Belgian Official Gazette. Only medical SWT remains in place (see the text of the RD here).

Context The coalition agreement of January 31, 2025 provided for the immediate abolition of SWT, except for medical SWT. The Group of 10 subsequently reached an agreement to respect the final duration of the CBA’s on SWT until June 30, 2025. In the absence of legislative initiative, the National Labour Council (NLC) adopted CBA no. 173 to extend medical SWT until December 31, 2025 (see our earlier newsflash on this topic).

The NLC subsequently issued opinion no. 2.445 on structural reforms for SWT. In this opinion, the NLC requested that the transitional measures for general SWT in the preliminary draft of RD be amended due to potential issues with long notice periods, and that the deadline for recognition of companies in difficulty or undergoing restructuring be extended (see our earlier newsflash on this topic). The government clearly took this advice into account in the final text of the RD.

Current status of SWT Based on the RD and the relevant CBAs, access to SWT remains possible under the following conditions:

• General SWT (CBA no. 17): employees (i) whose dismissal was notified before April 1, 2025, (ii) who are at least 62 years old no later than June 30, 2025, but in any case at the end of their employment contract, (iii) and who have at least 40 years of professional experience at the end of their employment contract.
• SWT for heavy jobs (CBA no. 143): employees (i) whose dismissal was notified before July 1, 2025, (ii) who are at least 60 years old no later than June 30, 2025, but in any case at the end of their employment contract, (iii) and who have at least 35 years of professional experience at the end of their employment contract.
• SWT for night work and construction sector (CBA no. 166): employees (i) whose dismissal was notified before July 1, 2025, (ii) who are at least 60 years old no later than June 30, 2025, but in any case at the end of their employment contract, (iii) and who have at least 33 years of professional experience at the end of their employment contract.
• SWT for long careers (CBA no. 167): employees (i) whose dismissal was notified before July 1, 2025, (ii) who are at least 60 years old no later than June 30, 2025, but in any case at the end of their employment contract, (iii) and who have at least 40 years of professional experience at the end of their employment contract.
• SWT for companies recognised as being in difficulty or undergoing restructuring (RD May 3, 2007): employees who (i) are at least 60 years old, (ii) have 20 years of professional experience or 10 years of work in the same sector during the last 15 years, (iii) are dismissed during the recognition period, (iv) provided that the recognition of their company as being in difficulty or restructuring started before May 1, 2025.
• Medical SWT (CBA no. 173): (i) disabled employees or employees with serious physical problems (or equivalent), (ii) who are at least 58 years old during the period from July 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025 and at the latest at the end of their employment contract, (iii) with at least 35 years of professional experience at the end of their employment contract, (iv) who are dismissed no later than December 31, 2025.

Looking ahead In its opinion no. 2.455, the NLC announced that it will extend medical SWT until June 30, 2029, abolish CBA no. 143 on SWT for heavy jobs, and amend CBA no. 17 on general SWT so that the supplementary allowance will no longer be granted to employees who are not entitled to SWT. The Federation of Belgian Enterprises (VBO-FEB) has confirmed this as well (see article on the VBO-FEB website)