News item | 26-06-2025 | 13:00
Extra money will also be invested in the Social Advocatuur in 2026. Earlier it was announced in the Spring Memorandum that from January 1, 2027, an additional 30 million euros will be available for the Social Advocatuur annually. For 2026, money is released from the existing budget for legal aid. With this money, the points that Social Lawyers receive for cases are adjusted and the surcharges, the basic rate per point and the travel allowance for mediators are increased. This increase in the rates must be implemented as early as possible in 2026 as soon as the required general administrative order comes into effect. These measures follow up to a large part of the recommendations of the Van der Meer II committee. This is what State Secretary for Legal Protection Teun Struycken writes in a letter to the Lower House.
State Secretary Struycken: “In a Democratic constitutional state, everyone is entitled to legal aid. Social Advocatuur offers this legal aid to those who cannot pay legal assistance, but is in danger of getting a legal problem. It is a joint responsibility of the government and the commercial legal profession to make the cable -proof and so that the cabinet also invests in the cabinet in addition to the cabinet in the cable in addition to it in it in it in it in it in it in it in it in it in it in it in it in it in it in it in it in it in it in it in it in addition to it in it. And high -quality social lawyers are available.
Future -proof Social Advocatuur
The profession of social lawyers is struggling with a high outflow and a too low intake of new social lawyers. Reasons for this include aging, unfamiliarity among law students, a negative image and also the reimbursements. This reduces the offer of social lawyers. The decrease is tackled by the reimbursements, short -term measures and the elaboration of a vision for long -term measures from 2026. For example, the future -proofing of social law must be guaranteed.
In the short term, the State Secretary proposes a number of additional measures in addition to the extra investments. For example, a pilot is set up in which starting lawyers can receive an advance if they have not previously been paid a case as a social lawyer. The existing subsidy for the vocational training of social lawyers will also be extended by around 2.5 million euros. 175 new social lawyers can be trained with this subsidy. The subsidy is available until the amount is used up. With previous editions of the subsidy, the vocational training of around 525 social lawyers was paid. In order to bring the profession of social lawyer to the attention more and more attention, a campaign with ambassadors and figureheads is started from the government.
In a broader context, a meeting is organized in the short term with the commercial legal profession on the subsidized legal aid and the contribution that could be made from the Commercial Advocatuur by tackling the cases for which there are now insufficient social lawyers available. Finally, further investigation is being conducted by the Dutch Bar Association into a guarantee for trainee entrepreneurs and the Knowledge Center System Subsidized Legal Aid is investigating the offer of social lawyers per region and jurisdiction.
Joint vision
In addition to the extra money for the reimbursements and the measures for the short term, together with the Dutch Bar Association, the Council for Legal Aid and the Social Advocatuur Nederland Association, a vision of the future of the Social Advocatuur is worked out. Long -term measures can be designed on the basis of this vision. At the moment, the vision process has yielded four pillars for the future vision, with a reasonable fee an important precondition. These pillars are: alternative business structures, image, education and efficient business operations. These pillars are submitted to a wide network of those involved, including social lawyers, law students, legal assistance insurers and representatives of the Judiciary. The aim is that the vision is finished in the third quarter of this year.