STAP budget

As of the 1st of March 2022, people in the Dutch labour market (either in a job or job-seekers) can apply for a STAP budget of up to €1,000 for educational purposes. The STAP budget replaces the tax scheme whereby study costs could be deducted from the income tax.

You can apply for the STAP budget for all ACC’s training programmes.

STAP stands for ‘Stimulating Labour Market Position’. The STAP budget is meant as a subsidy scheme to (partially) fund training programmes. This scheme is introduced by the government to give people the opportunity to increase their long-term employability by following a training programme. By making annual subsidies available, the government aims to make education more accessible, and to stimulate people to continue their development throughout their lives.

With the STAP budget, you can follow various (professional) courses and training programmes supplied by a STAP educational institute at the secondary, higher professional or university level. These are institutes who are included in the STAP training register of DUO (Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs). The ACC is a STAP educational institute, and all our training programmes are eligible for the STAP budget.

There are a number of criteria you must meet to be eligible for the STAP budget:

• You are between the ages of 18 and retirement.
• You are a citizen of the European Union (EU) or the partner of an EU-citizen.
• You have been insured under the Dutch national insurance scheme (Premie Volksverzekeringen) for at least 6 months in the past two years.
• At the moment of application, you do not receive any other financial assistance for study costs from the government (e.g. study financing, a teacher’s grant or financial assistance for school costs for adults).
• The training programme you want to follow is listed in the STAP training register.
• Your programme will start within 3 months from the application for the STAP budget.
• You have not yet received a STAP budget this year, and there is still budget available at the UWV.
• You must attend at least 80% of the class days.

Per person, a maximum of €1,000 per year is available. The government grants a total of 218 million euros per year for the STAP budget. It is estimated that this will enable 200,000-300,000 people to follow a training programme with a STAP budget. The total amount is divided over six application periods of two months each. This means that a new budget becomes available every two months. For each application period, the following applies: ‘first come, first served’ and ‘while supplies last’. So make sure you apply for your STAP budget on time and in the right period*.

The UWV is responsible for the implementation of the STAP budget. You can apply for the STAP budget via the STAP portal on the UWV website. You will need a certificate of registration from a recognised STAP institute (such as the ACC) and the ability to log in using DigiD.

To apply for the STAP budget, you must complete the following steps:

1. Register for the training programme of your choice on the ACC-website. Our registration process consists of two steps: (1) initial registration and (2) completion of a questionnaire. You can indicate that you want to make use of the STAP budget in step two (the questionnaire). Therefore, make sure that you complete the entire registration process (both steps) as quickly as possible, so that we can assess whether you can be admitted to the programme and send you the STAP registration certificate (‘STAP-aanmeldingsbewijs’).
2. Receive a STAP registration certificate from us. After your enrolment has been approved by us, we will send you a STAP registration certificate. You will receive this document within 5 business days after the approval of your registration.
3. Apply for the STAP budget in the UWV portal. You can apply for the STAP budget via the UWV STAP portal. Here, you will upload the STAP registration certificate as an attachment to the application. Click here for an explanation of the application process.
   Please note: the UWV processes grant applications in order of receipt. If there are any errors in the application, it will be rejected. Therefore, please check carefully whether all the details on the registration certificate are correct.
4. The UWV decides within 4 weeks whether your application will be approved. You can log in to stapuwv.nl to check the status of your application under ‘My applications’.
5. The STAP budget is either awarded or rejected. If your STAP budget is approved, both you and the ACC will be notified. You will receive the message ‘voorlopig toegekend’ (‘provisionally awarded’). This means that the subsidy has been granted, on the condition that the training programme (or a proportional part thereof) will actually be followed. You must complete the programme, or make sufficient study progress, to be entitled to keep the subsidy. If the STAP budget is not awarded (or the budget has run out for a certain period), only you will receive a notification of this. Please note: the ACC will not receive any notification in this case. We therefore assume that you will participate in the training programme until you inform us in writing that you wish to cancel your registration. Our general terms and conditions also apply in this case. So please confirm any cancellations in time and in writing (via e-mail) to us.
6. The STAP budget is paid to the ACC. The STAP budget will be paid out to the training institute. You will therefore not receive any money directly from the UWV, but the ACC will transfer the money to you on their behalf. If you have already paid the full training fee to us, we will refund the full STAP budget to the account (IBAN) from which you previously paid the tuition fee. If you have not yet paid all of the tuition fees, we will offset the outstanding amount against the STAP budget.

Please note: your spot in the training programme is only guaranteed once the full training costs have been paid. This means that if you want to be sure of a spot, it is necessary to pay the full amount as soon as possible. If the STAP budget is granted, we will refund the awarded amount to you.

1. After the training programme has been completed, we inform the UWV whether you have participated in the programme and have completed it.
2. Both the ACC and you (as a student) are obliged to keep the UWV informed of changes in the situation. As soon as anything changes (for example: the training programme cannot start, or you cannot take part or complete the programme), this must be reported to the UWV. The UWV may then reclaim part or all of the STAP budget.

There are six periods per year in which the STAP budget can be applied for. The total available budget will be divided over these six application periods.

It is important that you submit your application in the correct time period. The training programme you want to follow can only start at the earliest 4 weeks after the STAP application and at the latest 3 months after the end of the application period. So do not apply for the STAP budget too early, but also not too late!

An example
If you submit your application on 1 July 2022 (application period July-August 2022), then the first possible starting date is 29 July 2022 (4 weeks after the application date) and the training activity must commence no later than 30 November 2022 (3 months after the end of the application period). If you submit your application on 8 July 2022, the training activity can start at the earliest on 5 August 2022 (again, 4 weeks after the application date) and at the latest on 7 December 2022.

Please note: the STAP budget often runs out early in the application period! In the application period of September 2022, for example, the funding ran out after only a couple of hours. Therefore, we advise you to apply for the STAP budget on the first day of the application period.

Click here for more information on how to apply for the STAP budget in the STAP portal.