Legislation designed to stop low-skilled workers from abroad from being exploited by staffing agencies has been postponed again because there is no one to monitor compliance, social affairs minister Eddy van Hijum has told parliament.

The legislation should have come into effect on January 1, 2026. It would have required staffing agencies to get formal approval from the ministry before being allowed to operate and pay a deposit of €100,000 as evidence of their commitment to pay workers properly and meet tax and premium obligations.

A licence for bona fide agencies is one of the recommendations made in a report by former SP leader Emile Roemer to protect foreign workers in 2020. ‘It is too easy to set up a staffing agency and there are too many dodgy companies,’ Roemer said at the time.

Van Hijum, who described the delay as “disappointing” said he is now trying to establish if the ministry itself can take over enforcement, but that this will take more time. The legislation was due to go through the parliamentary process next year.

It is the second time the legislation, supposed to end the exploitation of thousands of seasonal and other food industry and logistics workers, has been delayed.

“This was the only concrete measure on the table to tackle the exploitation of labour migrants,” said GroenLinks-PvdA parliamentarian Mariëtte Patijn in a reaction.

Van Hijum said that the role of the regulator will be “complex” and it remains to be seen if it can be done by social affairs ministry officials. Government cutbacks on civil service numbers will also have an impact, Van Hijum suggested.

The minister is planning to appoint a further 35 labour inspectors to help tackle problems in the sector. “But without a way to permanently remove rogue staffing agencies from the market,” they will be able to continue to operate and avoid compliance, he said.

Earlier this month Van Hijum told the Telegraaf in an interview that the cabinet is investigating the option of launching criminal prosecutions against employers who abuse low-skilled foreign workers or traffick them into the country to do menial jobs.

“There are unfortunately too many examples of bad working conditions, exploitation and poor housing,” he said. “We want to tackle this as quickly as we can.”

At the same time, he said, the number of immigrants coming to the Netherlands has to be reduced drastically. “Labour migration is out of hand,” he told the paper. “We have to be more critical about who we allow in to work.”