Half of Dutch companies got needed coronavirus support in 2020

Last year, 48 percent of Dutch companies with 2 or more employed persons made use of the government's coronavirus support packages, according to figures up to and including 31 December 2020 from Statistics Netherlands. That amounts to nearly 198 thousand companies needing help from one of the 16 support schemes.

Companies with two or more employed persons most often made use of the NOW regulation for covering employees' wages. 28 percent of these companies got support from the NOW regulation. 24 percent got support from the TOGS/TVL scheme for covering fixed costs. And 22 percent got their tax payments deferred. Some companies used a combination of these regulation.

Companies in the hospitality industry most often needed support - travel restrictions were a major blow for accommodations, and lockdowns severely affected the catering industry which is still closed for everything but takeaways. 85 percent of companies in the hospitality industry got fixed costs compensation and 60 percent got wage costs support.

More than half of businesses in other services, such as hair dressers and beauty salons, and in the culture, sports and recreation sector made used of the fixed costs scheme. In all industries, less than half of companies deferred their tax payments.

Of all sectors, companies in agriculture, forestry and fishing made the least use of the coronavirus support measures.

Over 75 percent of Dutch companies only have one employed person. 25 percent of these companies got support from the TOZO regulation, a temporary bridging scheme specifically for self-employed persons, by May 2020. The stats office has no more recent figures for this scheme available.