Summary - The Social Support Act 2015 in practice

Original title: De Wmo 2015 in praktijk

To enable them to live independently at home and participate in society, people with impairments or disabilities often need support. The 2015 Social Support Act (Wmo 2015) imposes a duty on local authorities to provide that support. This support is intended to be additional to the help that people arrange for themselves and receive from family or friends. Municipalities have a good deal of discretion to gear both the access to social support and the specific services offered to local conditions and individual clients. They work together with many other parties in implementing the Wmo 2015.
This publication describes how municipalities shape their local Wmo policy together with actors in the field. It also describes what changes have taken place in practice since the introduction of the Wmo 2015. The report describes the perspectives of not only municipalities, but also those of providers of support, health insurers, supporters of volunteers and informal carers, people involved in civic initiatives, Wmo client advocates and Wmo clients themselves. All these people are involved in the implementation of the Wmo.

The structure of the long-term care and support system in the Netherlands was changed with effect from 1 January 2015. At the request of the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, the Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP) is carrying out a national evaluation of the reform of the Dutch long-term care system covering the period from 2015 to 2017 inclusive. Several interim reports will be published as part of the evaluation of the Dutch long-term care reforms, culminating in the publication of an overarching final report in 2018.