Additional funding for legal aid as early as 2026
More investment in legal aid is also planned for 2026. It was previously announced in the Spring Memorandum that an additional €30 million per year will be provided as from 1 January 2027. For 2026, the funds will be released from the existing legal aid budget. This funding will be used to adjust the points allocated to legal aid lawyers for cases and to increase the supplements, the basic rate per point and travel allowance for mediators. The rate increases must be implemented as soon as possible in 2026, once the necessary Order in Council has been enacted. These measures give effect to many of the Van der Meer II Committee’s recommendations. State Secretary for Legal Protection, Teun Struycken, outlined this in a letter to the House of Representatives.
State Secretary Struycken: ‘In a democratic rule of law, everyone is entitled to legal assistance. Legal aid provides this support to those who cannot afford it but who risk getting into difficulties due to a legal problem. It is the shared responsibility of government and the commercial legal sector to future-proof legal aid. That is why the government is investing an additional €30 million annually and implementing other measures to ensure a sufficient number of high-quality legal aid lawyers remain available in the future. This is how we preserve the foundation of access to justice under our rule of law.’
Securing the future of legal aid
The legal aid profession is grappling with high attrition and a shortage of new lawyers. Causes include an ageing workforce, limited awareness among law students, a negative image and low pay, all resulting in a declining number of legal aid lawyers. To reverse this trend, fee increases from 2026 will be accompanied by short-term measures and the shaping of a vision that will underpin long-term measures. This is how the future sustainability of legal aid will be ensured.
In addition to the increased investment, the State Secretary proposes several short-term measures. A pilot will allow new legal aid lawyers to receive an advance if they have not yet been paid for a case. The existing grant for legal aid training will be extended by around €2.5 million, providing funding to train 175 new legal aid lawyers. The grant will be available until fully spent. Previous grant rounds supported professional training for around 525 legal aid lawyers. The government will launch a campaign featuring ambassadors and role models to raise the profile and improve the image of legal aid lawyers.
Within a broader context, a meeting will soon be organised with the commercial legal sector to discuss subsidised legal assistance and the potential contribution commercial lawyers could make by handling cases currently underserved due to a shortage of legal aid lawyers. Lastly, the Netherlands Bar Association is researching financial guarantees for trainee lawyers, while the Knowledge Centre for Subsidised Legal Aid is examining the availability of legal aid lawyers by region and area of legal practice.
Shared vision
Alongside the additional funding for fees and short-term measures, a vision for the future of legal aid is being developed in cooperation with the Netherlands Bar Association, the Legal Aid Board and the Association of Dutch Legal Aid Lawyers. Long-term measures can be shaped based on this vision. The vision process has currently identified four pillars for the future vision, with fair remuneration as a key prerequisite. These pillars – alternative business structures, public image, education and efficient operations – will be presented to a broad network of stakeholders, including legal aid lawyers, law students, legal expenses insurers and representatives of the judiciary. The goal is to finalise the vision by the third quarter of this year.