Flemish training leave 2026: what has changed?
Last updated: September 2026
An employee asks whether an evening course can be taken under Flemish training leave. Last year, for a half-time worker, the answer was simple: no. This school year it can, provided the course is recognised. And the reimbursement you receive as an employer is more than 60% higher.
Since 1 September 2026, a reformed Flemish training leave (VOV, from the Dutch Vlaams opleidingsverlof) has applied. The Flemish Government has made the scheme broader and stricter at the same time: more employees qualify and you get more back per hour, but the conditions for the courses themselves are tougher.
What does that mean for you in practice? In this article: what exactly has changed, which courses still count, how much you get back and how to apply.
In short: the reimbursement rises from €14.91 to €24.50 per hour. Employees working at least 50% qualify again, instead of 80%. Employees can now take up to 250 hours a year on a permanent basis if they also follow a course you propose. In return, only a closed list of courses still qualifies.
What exactly is Flemish training leave?
Flemish training leave is an employee's right to follow a recognised course and to be absent from work for it, while keeping their pay. You continue to pay that salary on the normal payday and afterwards receive a flat-rate reimbursement from the Flemish authorities, per hour of training leave.
You may cap that salary at a ceiling that is indexed every school year. For 2026-2027 it stands at €3,864 gross per month, compared with €3,714 in 2025-2026 (Securex, Liantis, accessed 28 September 2026).
The scheme applies to employees in the private sector who work at an establishment in the Flemish Region. Public sector employees are not covered (Securex, accessed 29 September 2026).
Temp workers are covered too, provided the user company they work for belongs to the private sector. The temp agency is then the employer: it applies for the reimbursement and must pass it on to the user company, which bears the salary cost of the training leave hours. The agency may charge an administrative fee for this, if that has been agreed (Liantis, accessed 27 September 2026).
Do not confuse it with the federal right to training. The annual training plan and the five training days per employee are federal rules that you, as an employer, must organise. Training leave is a Flemish scheme: the employee requests time off for a recognised course, and you are reimbursed for those hours.
What has changed since 1 September 2026?
The main changes concern the reimbursement, access for part-time employees, the list of courses, and the joint initiative right, which now becomes permanent. The 2025-2026 school year was a transitional year with temporarily stricter rules, explicitly pending this reform (Securex, accessed 29 September 2026).
| School year 2025-2026 | Since school year 2026-2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| Reimbursement to the employer | €14.91 per hour | €24.50 per hour |
| Minimum employment | 80% and 28 hours a week on average | 50% of a full-time job |
| Maximum per year | 125 hours, up to 250 hours with a course proposed by the employer, extended temporarily | 125 hours, up to 250 hours with a course proposed by the employer, now permanent |
| Examination Board exams and EVC | 8 hours | 16 hours |
| Courses | less strict scope | closed list of categories, extra exclusions |
Source: decision of the Flemish Government reforming Flemish training leave, and Acerta, accessed 28 September 2026.
Two nuances are worth knowing. The 50% threshold is not a first: it was the rule before 1 September 2025. The increase to 80% applied only to the 2025-2026 school year. Likewise, €24.50 is above the level before the cut, as the flat rate stood at €21.30 per hour until 2025.
Which employees are now entitled to training leave?
Every private sector employee working at least 50% of a full-time job at a Flemish establishment qualifies. The number of hours is calculated pro rata to the contractual employment fraction in the month of March before the school year.
Did the employee fall short of 50% in March? Then there is a second chance. The employment fraction of the month in which the first course starts then applies, again provided it is at least 50%. An employee who increases their hours before the first course starts is therefore not left out.
For you, this means more employees who can submit a request. If you employ many part-time workers, in retail, hospitality or care, expect requests again this school year from staff who were excluded last year. Sound familiar?
Which courses still qualify?
This is exactly where the reform gets stricter. A labour-market-oriented course only gives entitlement to training leave if it falls within at least one of the categories in the decision. It must also count at least 32 contact hours or 3 credits a year, be delivered by a registered training provider and be listed in the training database. This scope has applied since 1 July 2026, so that you could check before the new school year which courses qualify (Acerta, Securex, accessed 29 September 2026).
Alongside these labour-market-oriented courses there are career-oriented courses. The employee follows these after a career guidance programme, with a certificate and a personal development plan explaining why the course is needed.
The categories that still count
The list is closed. A course must focus on:
- Basic skills: basic literacy, numeracy, basic digital skills or Dutch for non-native speakers.
- A language: Dutch, French, German or English, up to and including level B1, with external quality control.
- A shortage occupation on the most recent VDAB list.
- The climate and energy transition or the digital transition.
- STEM: technological, technical, scientific or mathematical knowledge.
- A future skills shortage, demonstrated by a substantiated skills forecast.
- A mentor course.
- Social dialogue within the company, as an employee or employer representative.
- A first secondary education diploma.
Those shortage occupations are no detail. The decision refers to the most recent list published by the VDAB: a course leading to one of those occupations gives entitlement to leave. Our article on shortage and mismatch in the Belgian labour market looks at those occupations in more depth.
What is explicitly excluded
Two types of course have been explicitly excluded since 1 September 2026:
- courses the employee needs for the job they were hired for, and which you already have to pay for under a law or collective labour agreement (CLA);
- necessary adjustment courses: courses that result from an internal organisational or technological change, and that only serve to teach your employees to work with a system, tool or method in their current role.
There is one exception for those adjustment courses. During the first six months after recruitment, they still give entitlement to leave, provided they are labour-market-oriented and the new employee does not yet have the skills needed for the job.
Another new rule: the same course now gives entitlement to training leave only once. A repeated year no longer counts, unless the employee failed to obtain the certificate due to force majeure (Acerta, Liantis, accessed 28 September 2026).
A range of activities also remains excluded, as it has been since 2025: induction programmes, mentoring or buddy schemes, online training videos, lunch-and-learn sessions, company theatre, learning networks and peer review. Your induction programme for new employees therefore remains useful, but it does not fall under training leave.
In-company courses: a prior opinion first
For an in-company course, you need a favourable prior opinion from the competent Flemish department. A course is in-company if it is open only to one job profile in your company, focuses only on the current role, or is taught by someone working under your authority.
You apply for the prior opinion using an electronic form from the department.
How much do you get back as an employer?
You receive €24.50 per hour of training leave to which the employee is actually entitled, capped at their personal maximum for that school year. For a full-time employee who follows 125 hours of recognised training on their own initiative, that comes to €3,062.50: almost €1,200 more than last school year.
Worked example: three employees
Take three employees who follow a recognised course this school year. We assume that each course counts at least as many hours as the employee's maximum, and that it is followed in full.
- Employee A, full-time, 125 hours on own initiative: 125 x €24.50 = €3,062.50. Last school year: 125 x €14.91 = €1,863.75.
- Employee B, full-time, 125 hours on own initiative and 125 hours at your proposal: 250 x €24.50 = €6,125. Last school year: 250 x €14.91 = €3,727.50.
- Employee C, part-time at 60%, on own initiative: pro rata 125 x 60% = 75 hours, so 75 x €24.50 = €1,837.50. Last school year: €0, because below the 80% threshold.
Together that is €11,025 in reimbursement this school year, compared with €5,591.25 for the same three employees last year. The difference comes from two parts of the reform: the higher flat rate, and the lower threshold that gives employee C access again.
Bear in mind, though, that the flat rate is fixed. It does not follow the salary you continue to pay, so what you get back may be higher or lower than your actual labour cost for those hours.
What does the joint initiative right involve?
A full-time employee can take up to 125 hours of training leave a year for a course on their own initiative. If they also follow a course at your proposal, up to a further 125 hours can be added, for a total of 250 hours a year. For a part-time employee, these maximums apply pro rata.
The joint initiative right already existed on a temporary basis and was extended by one more year for 2025-2026 (Securex, accessed 29 September 2026). Since this school year it has been anchored permanently. It turns training leave into a tool you can use yourself: you propose a course your company needs, for instance towards a shortage role, and your employee follows it while keeping their pay, while you are reimbursed.
So always agree clearly whether a course is on the employee's own initiative or at your proposal. That distinction determines which block of 125 hours the hours fall into.
How do you apply for the reimbursement?
The application is made online. You register your employee's course on the Vlaamse opleidingsincentives digital platform of the Flemish government, within three months of the start of the course (Acerta, Securex, accessed 28 September 2026).
Miss that deadline and you foot the bill. Your employee keeps their right to training leave, but you receive no reimbursement (Acerta, accessed 28 September 2026).
Step 1. Check that the course is in the training database and belongs to a recognised category.
Step 2. For an in-company course, first apply for the prior opinion, or register the favourable prior opinion you have already received.
Step 3. Work out the personal maximum with your employee, pro rata to their employment in March or at the start of the first course, and agree whether it is on their own initiative or at your proposal.
Step 4. Register the course on the platform, within three months of the start.
Step 5. Report the training leave hours in the DmfA (multifunctional declaration). The department checks that declaration when it calculates the reimbursement.
Getting round the rules is a big risk. The reform also targets abuse: the reimbursement can be suspended and an employer can be temporarily excluded (Acerta, accessed 28 September 2026).
What employers should remember
- More back per hour. The flat rate rises from €14.91 to €24.50 per hour, from the 2026-2027 school year.
- Open again from 50%. Part-time employees qualify again, pro rata to their employment in March or at the start of the course.
- Up to 250 hours a year, if the employee also follows a course at your proposal. This rule is now permanent.
- Stricter conditions for courses. For labour-market-oriented courses, only the categories in the decision still count, and courses already required of you by law or a CLA are excluded. In-company courses require a prior opinion.
- Three months. That is how long you have after the start of the course to apply for the reimbursement.
How Recruit helps you
Training leave has a direct impact on your payroll: hours that are paid, an employment fraction that counts, a pro rata calculation for part-timers. That is data Recruit already keeps for you.
With Recruit:
- Working arrangements always correct - Full-time or part-time, the basis of the pro rata your employee is entitled to
- Accurate payroll - Pay aligned with your Joint Committee, including for training leave hours
- Dimona and social documents - Immediate employment declaration and documents kept
- Overview of your staff - Knowing who works for you, under which arrangement and since when
- Personal support 24/7 - A dedicated contact who knows your file and your sector
Try Recruit or contact our HR experts for tailored advice.
Frequently asked questions
Does training leave also apply in Brussels and Wallonia?
No. Flemish training leave applies to private sector employees who work at an establishment in the Flemish Region. If they work at an establishment in Brussels or Wallonia, they do not fall under this scheme.
Can I refuse training leave?
In principle not, if the course meets the conditions. You can, however, object to too many simultaneous absences. With fewer than 20 employees, you may refuse to have more than 10% of your staff absent at the same time, but you must let at least one employee go. From 20 employees, the 10% applies per job, with at least one employee per job (Securex, accessed 27 September 2026).
How many hours do Examination Board exams give?
Since 1 September 2026, exams before the Examination Board for secondary or primary education give entitlement to 16 hours of training leave, instead of 8. The same applies to the assessment of prior learning (EVC) at a recognised test centre. The employee must, however, attend the assessment.
Can I combine training leave with other support?
Not without limit. The ban on combining support has been extended to measures that fully fund the salary costs of the employee or of a replacement. If you already receive such support for the same employee, first check whether reimbursement of the training leave is still possible.
What happens if a course is removed from the list?
An employee who has already started the course keeps their training leave for the whole course, even if it is removed from the database.
How many hours does a higher education course give?
Each credit gives entitlement to four hours of training leave, provided the employee takes part in the final assessment.
The information in this article is provided for general guidance only and does not replace professional legal advice. Labour legislation changes regularly. Always consult the legislation in force or contact an HR expert for advice suited to your situation.