Government reassesses its use of external professionals

Biggest shift among provinces and municipalities

The share of self-employed professionals and agency workers at provinces and municipalities has nearly halved since 2022. The decline became particularly noticeable from 2024 onwards and coincides with a drop in the number of assignments. In the first quarter of 2026, the number of assignments was 40% lower than in the same quarter of 2022.

Developments in central government followed a different pattern. Between 2022 and 2025, the share of externally hired professionals doubled. Since peaking at approximately 13% in mid-2025, the figure has fallen to 11%. This marks a clear shift after several years of growth.

The report does, however, highlight an important distinction. The 11% represents the share of self-employed professionals and agency workers as a proportion of the total workforce. The Roemer standard requires central government to spend no more than 10% of its total wage bill on external hiring. Measured as a share of the total wage bill, external hiring by central government remained at around 13% in 2025, three percentage points above the standard.

Geert-Jan Waasdorp, CEO of Intelligence Group, comments: “While the flexible workforce across the broader labour market is gradually moving towards a new equilibrium, provinces, municipalities and central government have significantly reduced their reliance on external professionals in a short period of time. They are finally taking the Roemer standard seriously. In practice, however, this shift may have been driven primarily by stricter enforcement of regulations on false self-employment. Government cannot enforce rules if it does not set the right example itself. We are now seeing government adjust its approach much faster than the market as a whole. The rest of the market is expected to follow the government's lead even more closely.”

Rules governing self-employed professionals remain in flux

The decline is part of a broader shift in hiring policies. Since the end of the enforcement moratorium on the DBA Act (Deregulation of the Assessment of Employment Relationships), authorities have resumed full enforcement against false self-employment. According to the Talent Monitor, clients have anticipated this by tightening contracts, revising their hiring policies and reducing their reliance on external professionals.

At the same time, the future legislative framework is still taking shape. In March 2026, the Dutch government scrapped the clarification component of the VBAR legislative proposal (Clarification of the Assessment of Employment Relationships). This component was intended to clarify when someone is permitted to work as a self-employed professional. The government is now continuing work on a new Self-Employment Act, which aims to reduce the reluctance among clients caused by uncertainty surrounding the rules.

Saskia Kapper, Director of Customer Success at HeadFirst and Chair of industry association Bovib, explains what these developments mean in practice: “The government is working towards a new balance between permanent staffing and flexible expertise. This requires clear frameworks, while also allowing organisations to retain access to scarce knowledge and specialist capacity wherever it is needed. The upcoming legislation makes it even more important to maintain that balance carefully.”