Organisations representing the self employed have reacted furiously to the news that the new pension deal includes a proviso to require all freelancers to take out disability insurance.

The deal, thrashed out by unions, employers and ministers, includes a clause stating that all freelancers will have to have insurance cover in case they become unable to work through ill health – something which only around 20% of freelancers currently have.

The aim, social affairs minister Wouter Koolmees said, is to prevent freelancers ‘transfering their costs and risks to society at large’.

It is unclear as yet who the new rule would affect and according to some reports, people who can prove they have sufficient assets will be exempt.

Maarten Post, spokesman for Stichting ZZP Nederland, said in a reaction that ‘left wing groups like the FNV trade union have had their way’. ‘Their aim is to make it more expensive for freelancers and to remove them as competition for people in fixed jobs,’ he said.

Currently older workers and people doing physically demanding work find it almost impossible to take out insurance, or face high bills. According to RTLZ, a 60-year-old construction worker would face a monthly premium of €500 to get proper coverage for being invalided out of work.

The AWVN employers’ organisation said late last year freelancers should be required by law to take out insurance to cover them if they become too ill to work.