'Impending disaster': Almost 50,000 unemployed people in Belgium to lose benefits

An estimated 47,691 people across the country will lose their long-term unemployment benefits next April following reforms targeting the National Employment Office (RVA).

With 12,989 of those being Brussels residents, social welfare centres and politicians warn of an "impending disaster" in the capital as a result of these stricter federal measures.

“Without compensation, local authorities, the last social safety net, will collapse,” said Brussels PS chairman Ahmed Laaouej.

The federal government is reforming unemployment benefits by limiting the right to claim them depending on the duration of unemployment and employment history.

Jobseekers affected by the reform will receive a notification letter sent out in various waves, the most recent of which targets jobseekers who are in their third benefit period (during which the benefit has been reduced to a lump sum) and who have been fully unemployed for less than eight years during their career.

This concerns 47,691 people across Belgium, each of whom will lose their entitlement to unemployment benefits from 1 April 2026.

The Brussels Federation of Public Social Welfare Centres (CPAS) sent an "urgent ultimatum" to the federal government demanding that it release the promised funds that the CPASs need to cope with the influx of people due to the restriction of unemployment benefits over time.

“If the federal government is unable to guarantee the funds that were planned for 2025 six weeks before the start of the reform and to ensure the full implementation of the compensation scheme from January 2026, then consideration should be given to postponing the reform in its entirety,” the federation stated in a press release.

Anneleen Van Bossuyt (N-VA), the federal minister for social integration, announced in July a budget of €26 million for CPASs to cover the initial costs of the reform this year.

The CPAS federation says this money is needed to recruit staff, adapt premises and purchase equipment in order to provide the best possible support to some of the 42,000 Brussels residents in total who will lose their benefits and turn to the CPAS for help.

“A catastrophe is looming,” Brussels PS member of parliament Jamal Ikazban wrote on social media.

“The federal government cannot outsource the fight against poverty [to local authorities] without also providing sufficient resources.”

Brussels MP Celia Groothedde (Groen) also expressed concerns about the consequences of the unemployment reform and the lack of federal compensation for CPASs, describing the reform as part of "the N-VA party’s strategy to undermine Brussels".

“How on earth is Brussels supposed to cope with such a hasty shock doctrine decision? This is planning misery,” Groothedde said.

Brussels minister for employment Bernard Clerfayt fears the federal budget crisis will compromise the payment of aid promised to CPAS.

“The federal government is going to make savings of €1.3 billion and was supposed to return €300 million to the CPASs – if it doesn’t guarantee this €300 million, it threatens the whole process,” Clerfayt said, adding that the €25 million promised from 2025 onwards still has not been paid.

“The CPAS are concerned that they will not have the means to do their work.”

A spokesperson for the minister for social integration said financial aid to CPASs was not in question, “however, the final vote still has to take place in plenary session”.

The Brussels Federation of CPASs already sounded the alarm at the beginning of October regarding the "inexorable tightening of the noose", at the centre of which are "those excluded from the first two waves, but also local teams and administrations... caught in the trap of deadlines and inadequate resources".

“Without going so far as to question the federal government’s commitment to the country’s three CPAS Federations, it’s clear that a growing fear has taken hold and the question of whether we really want to provide the necessary means for the success of federal policy is being raised,” the federation said.