News item | 08-04-2022 | 16:08
The first application option for the STAP budget attracted great interest. The preliminary figures show that 36,000 people can start training with the help of STAP.
Spread use of the budget was made in terms of education level, but also age. 55% of the applicants have at most an MBO background and 22% are 50 years or older. Furthermore, workers (80%) in particular made use of STAP, a significant proportion of which were flex workers. Most applicants (21%) work in the healthcare sector. Minister Van Gennip (Social Affairs and Employment) shared these first results of the STAP budget with the House of Representatives today.
The government wants to make training possible for a broad target group with public funding. That is why the STAP budget started on 1 March. Through STAP, adults with a link to the Dutch labor market can claim a maximum of 1,000 euros per year in financial aid to pay for education. This new scheme is more accessible than the previous tax deduction for training costs because people no longer have to advance an amount. This makes STAP more accessible for people with lower incomes and the elderly.
Minister Van Gennip: “I think it is important that people are given the opportunity to undergo further training, retraining or further training. With the STAP budget we are doing something new to make education possible for a wider target group with the help of government money. It is good to see that the first results underline the great interest in training and professional development. The diversity in the applicants for STAP shows that this scheme is more accessible to people. As of May 2, the next 32 million euros will be released. I would like to encourage people who want to develop professionally to apply for a STAP budget”.
With the opening of the first period for STAP, the first 32 million euros (of the 160 million euros for the whole year) for financial aid for training became available. At the start of STAP, there were almost 20,000 training courses from around 300 trainers in the training register. More trainers will be connected in the coming period, including those with accreditation from sector and branch organizations and then trainers with the CEDEO quality mark and CPION quality mark.