Wage slips will show a rise in take home pay of between 1.5% and 2% for most people next January, according to calculations by the social affairs ministry.

The increase in disposable income is due to cuts in the income tax rates plus increases in allowances and the higher the salary, the higher the rise, the figures show. The figures do not include statutory pay rises and so could pan out higher for some people.

At the same time, the ministry has published figures illustrating forecast developments in spending power next year. Overall spending power will go up for the eighth year in a row, although the 2021 increase is the lowest of the past three years.

Around half of households will enjoy an increase in disposable income of more than 1%.  However single parents on minimum wages and pensioners with a relatively high company pension will be slightly worse off – the latter because corporate pensions are unlikely to be indexed linked.

Social affairs minister Wouter Koolmees said that spending power forecasts do not take the potential impact of coronavirus on jobs and income into account. ‘This means in particular, some households will not recognise themselves in the figures,’ he said.