How Nijmegen wants to keep Wmo support affordable and available

The municipality of Nijmegen wants support through the Wmo (the Dutch Social Support Act, arranged by your municipality) to stay available in the future for the people who need it most. That is why it drew up the Uitvoeringsagenda Duurzame Jeugdhulp en Wmo-begeleiding (the action plan for sustainable youth care and Wmo support). The reason is a decision by the city council in the Stadsbegroting 2025-2028 (the city budget) to save € 7.2 million in total over the coming years, € 1.2 million of which on Wmo support.

The heart of the approach: help starts close to home. The Buurtteams Volwassenen (the neighbourhood teams for adults) first look at what you can do yourself, together with your own network and with facilities in the neighbourhood. Where it fits, support will more often be offered in a group instead of one to one, and sometimes partly online. If more is needed, support with an indicatie (a care needs assessment) from a care provider — such as Divers Zorg — stays available. At the start it will also be agreed more clearly which goal you want to reach, and the support ends once that goal has been met.

In 2026 the municipality is making additional agreements with ten providers of indicated support, and is trying out a new way of working in the neighbourhood in three areas (Nijmegen-Noord, Lindenholt and Zwanenveld/Lankforst).

What will you notice of this? If you already receive support, nothing simply changes for you: the agreements about your support remain. But with a new application or at an evaluation, the neighbourhood team may look more often at group activities or at help from the people around you. Do you have questions about what this means for your situation? Feel free to call us, we are glad to look at it with you.