New collective labour agreement for temporary agency workers as of 1 January 2026

What does this mean for clients/hirers?
From 1 January 2026, a new collective labour agreement for temporary workers (concluded by ABU, NBBU and trade unions) will apply. This collective labour agreement will bring about major changes, especially for clients who hire staff through a temporary employment agency.

The aim of the new collective labour agreement is to ensure equal treatment of temporary workers and permanent employees. This means that you, as a client, must be able to demonstrate the terms and conditions of employment of your permanent employees so that the temporary employment agency can apply the correct remuneration.

1. Equal terms of employment – your greatest responsibility
Until now, the so-called hirer's remuneration applied: the temporary employment agency had to ensure that the temporary worker received the same as your permanent employees in a number of areas (such as wages, shift allowance, overtime pay). From 1 January 2026, this will be extended: The total package of employment conditions for a temporary worker must be at least equivalent to that of your permanent employees who do the same work.

This means that the employment agency needs to know what applies to you in terms of: salary level;

• allowances (shift work, overtime, irregular hours, on-call duty, etc.);
• holiday entitlement and leave arrangements;
• allowances (e.g. travel expenses, meal allowance, work clothing);
• pension scheme;
• any extras (bonus, thirteenth month, training budget, ADV days).

As the client, you must provide this information to the employment agency in writing and keep it up to date. Without this information, the employment agency cannot comply with the collective labour agreement, which could lead to risks in the event of an inspection or dispute.

2. New pension scheme for temporary workers
From 1 January 2026, a new pension scheme will apply to all temporary workers, which will be more in line with what permanent employees receive. The contribution will increase significantly (to approximately 23% of the pension base), with the employer paying the majority of this. This means that the hourly rates for temporary workers are likely to increase. It is therefore wise to discuss with your employment agency in good time what this means for your cost price and budgets.

3. Changes to phases and contract duration (expected effective date 1 January 2027)
There will also be changes to the phase system for temporary agency workers:

• Phase B (temporary contracts) will be shortened from 3 years to 2 years.
• Interruption periods will be longer: it will therefore take longer before someone can start again in phase A.

For you as a client, this means that temporary workers will be entitled to more security sooner (e.g. a permanent contract through the agency). This may have consequences for the duration of deployment, flexibility and rates.

4. Transitional arrangement
There will be a transitional arrangement for current situations. If a temporary worker is temporarily worse off under the new collective labour agreement, he or she will retain the old conditions for the time being. In that case, nothing will change for you temporarily — but it is good to know that there may be differences between old and new hiring situations in 2026.

5. Consequences for you as a client

From 2026 onwards, you will:

1. Have to share more information about the terms and conditions of employment of your permanent employees;
2. Have to keep more records (job descriptions, wage components, schedules, allowances);
3. Possibly face higher rates for temporary workers;
4. Have to consult more with the temporary employment agency to ensure equality;
5. Run a greater risk if the collective labour agreement is not properly applied (because the Inspectorate SZW actively monitors this).