Zero-hours contracts end in the Netherlands in 2028: planning your season with a bandwidth contract

In the Netherlands, on-call contracts without fixed hours end on 1 January 2028 for everyone except young people under 18, pupils, students and state pensioners who work 16 hours a week or less on average. With all other on-call staff, Dutch employers agree a minimum and a maximum number of hours, per period of up to one quarter. The maximum is at most 30 percent above the minimum. A running on-call contract outside that group turns into a bandwidth contract on that day, with the average of the previous twelve months as the minimum.

When do zero-hours contracts end?

On 1 January 2028. The Dutch House of Representatives passed the Act on more security for flexible workers on 12 May 2026 and the Senate followed on 7 July 2026 (bill 36746). The act is published in Bulletin of Acts 2026, 205. The entry-into-force decree sets the rules for on-call work and fixed-term contracts at 1 January 2028.

So you run the 2027 season under the current rules. That season does count: the hours an on-call worker puts in during 2027 will decide their minimum.

What is a bandwidth contract?

An employment contract with a minimum number of hours above zero and a maximum, per period of up to one quarter. The maximum is no more than 130 percent of the minimum (article 7:628ab of the Dutch Civil Code in the act). Business.gov.nl gives the example: with a minimum of 10 hours, the maximum is 13 hours.

The minimum is the number of hours the worker is paid and scheduled for as standard. The law ties it to every period of the contract, so to the quiet months as well. For a school or studio with a season, that is the heart of it: a bandwidth contract that runs all year costs you the minimum in January just as much as in July.

In the written statement to the worker you say that it is a bandwidth contract and on which days and hours you can call them in, for no more than the maximum number of hours (article 7:655(1)(o)). Outside those days and hours they do not have to work. A gap of three hours or less between two of those blocks counts as time you can call them in. The payslip also states that it is a bandwidth contract (article 7:626).

How far ahead do you have to call in an on-call worker?

At least four days, in writing or electronically. When you call later, the worker does not have to come. When you change the times or withdraw the call within four days of the start, they are entitled to the pay for that call (article 7:628ab(2)). A collective agreement can shorten the four days to 24 hours.

The three-hour rule stays. When the working times are not fixed, you pay three hours for every period of less than three hours worked.

What if someone keeps working more hours?

After twelve months you make them an offer of a fixed number of hours within a month, in writing or electronically. That number is at least the average they worked over those twelve months. It starts no later than two months after the twelve months and the worker has a month to accept. Contracts with gaps of up to 36 months count together (article 7:628ab(5)).

The offer comes back each time the contract is another twelve months further. As long as you have not made it, the worker is entitled to pay over that average (paragraph 9).

Can pupils and students stay on call?

Yes, when they work for you 16 hours a week or less on average. The exception in article 7:628ac covers four groups:

• young people under 18;
• pupils, for as long as they are enrolled;
• students in vocational or higher education, for as long as they are enrolled;
• people who have reached the state pension age.

With them you may agree in writing that there is no fixed number of hours. The rules for the call still apply: four days ahead, pay when you withdraw within four days, the three-hour rule and the offer after twelve months (article 7:628a(2)). Only with this group may you agree in writing, for the first six months, to deviate from the duty to keep paying when there is no work.

When a student leaves their course or starts working more than 16 hours on average, their contract becomes a bandwidth contract from that moment. The minimum is then the average of the previous twelve months (article 7:628ac(10)).

What changes for seasonal staff who come back every year?

After three fixed-term contracts there must soon be three years in between before you hire someone on a fixed-term contract again. Today that is six months (article 7:668a). A seasonal worker who returns every spring on a fixed-term contract builds up a chain this way. The winter in between no longer counts as a break.

Three things give room:

• For pupils and students who work 16 hours a week or less on average, the gap stays six months (article 7:668a(11)).
• Fixed-term contracts you sign before 1 January 2028 still fall under the old rules (article 228(4) of the Transitional Act for the new Civil Code).
• For jobs that the climate or nature limits to nine months a year at most, a collective agreement may drop the four-day notice and the offer after twelve months (article 7:628ab(10)). The Senate’s summary says exceptions for seasonal work and side jobs remain possible. So check whether a collective agreement applies to your business and what it says.

What happens to your current on-call contracts?

On 1 January 2028 every running on-call contract turns into a bandwidth contract by itself (article 228 of the Transitional Act for the new Civil Code). That does not apply to workers who fall under the exception for young people, pupils, students and state pensioners on that day. A contract with a minimum and maximum that already meets the new rules stays as it is.

The minimum becomes the average of the hours the worker put in during the twelve months before 1 January 2028. Contracts with gaps of up to six months count together for those twelve months. When the contract ran for a shorter time, you look at the average over the originally agreed remaining term. You make the first offer of a fixed number of hours twelve months later, in January 2029.

How do you plan your season from 2028?

Choose for each worker the form that fits their work. The law offers four:

Form	Fits	Watch out
Fixed-term contract for the season, with a minimum and maximum	instructor or teacher who works from April to October	the minimum applies in every period of the contract; each seasonal contract counts in the chain
Fixed number of hours per year, with pay spread evenly over the months	worker who stays and mainly works in summer	they always have some certainty, at least a quarter ahead, about when they have to be available (article 7:628aa(2))
On-call contract within the exception	pupil, student, young person or state pensioner up to 16 hours a week on average	four days ahead, three-hour rule, offer after twelve months
Bandwidth contract that runs on	core team with work outside the season too	the minimum carries on through the quiet months

How to prepare:

1. In 2027, keep track of the hours worked per month for each on-call worker. That average becomes their minimum on 1 January 2028.
2. List who falls under the exception: age, enrolment as a pupil or student, state pension age and 16 hours a week or less on average.
3. Choose a form from the table for each worker and agree the days and hours on which you can call them in.
4. Plan each quarter between the minimum and the maximum and publish the schedule at least four days ahead, preferably for the whole season.
5. Put the offer after twelve months in your calendar, for converted contracts first in January 2029.

This article summarises the act. The text in the Bulletin of Acts is what counts. Have your new contracts checked by your payroll provider or your trade association.

Schedule and hours in Superota

You record the minimum and maximum of each contract in the contract itself and with your payroll provider. Superota shows what was planned and worked: the basis for the minimum, the offer after twelve months and the notice period.

For each staff member you record whether they work full time, part time or on call. The staff suggestions in season planning look, among other things, at who works full time and who had fewer lesson hours in the seven days before. Staff report time off themselves in the staff app, at least 7 days ahead.

Every change in time, place or assignment shows up straight away as an update in the staff member’s app, with the old and the new value. On their page you see for each update when it was posted and when they opened it. That tells you how many days before the lesson a change reached them.

With the Hours and payroll export extra you turn the schedule into a time entry per lesson day of each assignment. Work outside lessons, such as an afternoon getting equipment ready, you add as a separate entry. Then filter on one staff member and a twelve-month period and download the CSV: those are the hours worked that you base the average on. The monthly overview in Excel gives each staff member’s lesson days and total hours for the month.

Start in January 2027 with that monthly overview per on-call worker. By 1 January 2028 the minimum of every contract that converts is then ready and you and your staff talk about the same numbers.