Home nursing company Sensire wants to sack 600 carers and re-employ them as freelancers, according to trade union Abvakabo.

The concept is ‘scandalous’ and is being used to get around employment law, the union says. Freelancers do not fall under pay and conditions agreements and have no rights to holiday or sick pay.

‘People who have a paid job are being asked to work as freelancers. Then you have no rights and all the risks,’ spokesman Wim van der Hoorn told news agency ANP.

The union says staff were told about the option at a meeting, where it was explained how to set yourself up as a freelancer. Workers were also given two other options at the meeting – to retrain to work in a different sector or to retire early.

Other Dutch companies, many in the care industry, use the same system. PostNL, the postal delivery company, is also under fire for using freelance contracts to replace delivery staff.

Social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher has promised to look into the growth in fake freelance contracts.