Applying for Wlz care for a loved one? From 1 January 2027 family can sign themselves

The Wlz (the Dutch Long-Term Care Act) is for people who permanently need care or supervision 24 hours a day — for example because of dementia, a learning disability or a serious mental vulnerability. The application for a Wlz-indicatie (the formal long-term care assessment) goes through the CIZ, the national body that assesses long-term care needs. But someone who can no longer oversee what such an application means cannot sign it themselves either. For families this has so far been 'very cumbersome', writes the Ministry of Health (VWS).

That is changing. From 1 January 2027 a family member may sign the Wlz application. This is possible when the person cannot make the application themselves, is not under guardianship (curatele), has no court-appointed mentor, and there is no written authorised representative who arranges it. The partner comes first: the spouse, registered partner or life partner. If there is none, then a parent, child, brother, sister, grandparent or grandchild. Grandparents and grandchildren are new in this list.

This is no longer a plan but a decision. The law was adopted on 24 June 2026 (Staatsblad 2026, 170) and on 3 October the government set the start date at 1 January 2027 (Staatsblad 2026, 305). Minister Mirjam Sterk says: 'This change in the law prevents waiting for care at the very moment it is needed most.' The change is part of the national agreement on care for older people (Hoofdlijnenakkoord Ouderenzorg). Until 1 January nothing changes yet.

The ministry mainly mentions people with dementia, but family of someone with a disability or a mental vulnerability can also make use of it from 1 January. Those are exactly the people we work for. Good to know — and this is our own explanation: if there is a mentor, guardian or authorised representative, that person remains the one who makes the application. The new rule is for families who currently have nobody who is allowed to sign.

The change is only about who may sign the application. Nothing changes in the Wlz itself, in the assessment by the CIZ or in the pgb (a personal budget you use to buy your own care). At Divers Zorg you arrange your care after the assessment with a pgb, as you are used to.

Not sure whether your loved one needs Wlz care, or dreading the application? We help you with it free of charge — already now, and from January also with this new option. Feel free to call us.