You can appeal against UWV’s decision on your objection to the district court, administrative law section. You must do so within six weeks of the day on which that decision was announced (articles 6:7 and 6:8 of the General Administrative Law Act (Algemene wet bestuursrecht, Awb)). If you are too late, your appeal will almost always be declared inadmissible and UWV’s decision becomes final.
What you can do now
- Find the decision on your objection and note the date on it; add six weeks, counting from the following day.
- Check the notice of legal remedies at the bottom of the decision to see which court has jurisdiction — usually the one for where you live.
- Lodge the appeal via the Rechtspraak (Judiciary) digital portal or by registered letter to the court.
- Can’t get your grounds ready in time? Then lodge a pro forma appeal and ask for a period in which to supplement it.
- Expect an invoice for the court fee within a few weeks and do not leave it unpaid.
Where and how do you lodge an appeal?
You submit a notice of appeal to the district court, administrative law section, for where you live — not to UWV. The notice of appeal must be signed and must contain at least your name and address, the date, a description of the decision and the grounds for your appeal; if possible, enclose a copy of the decision on the objection (article 6:5 Awb). If you send it by post, the date of posting counts, provided the court receives your letter no later than one week after the end of the period (article 6:9 Awb). Which court it is is stated at the bottom of UWV’s decision.
What does an appeal cost, and can the court fee be waived?
The court charges you a court fee; the amount is indexed annually and can be found on rechtspraak.nl and on the invoice you receive (article 8:41 Awb). If you do not pay within the set period, your appeal will be declared inadmissible — that is the most common way in which an appeal that in itself has good prospects fails. If you have little to spend, you can invoke inability to pay. This is granted if you show with up-to-date documents that it is plausible that your net monthly income is below 95 per cent of the social assistance standard for a single person and that you have no assets from which you can pay the court fee; the income and assets of a tax partner are taken into account (see ECLI:NL:GHDHA:2026:1585).
What is a pro forma appeal?
A pro forma appeal is a short notice of appeal that you submit within the six weeks to safeguard the deadline, after which you supplement the grounds later. That is allowed: if the grounds are missing, the court must first give you the opportunity to remedy that omission within a set period before it can declare your appeal inadmissible (article 6:6 Awb). So in any case state which decision you are challenging, with your name, address, date and signature. After that, adhere strictly to the period for remedying the omission that the court sets.
By way of illustration. Someone receives a negative decision on their objection concerning an incapacity benefit and first wants to request the full medical file before responding on the merits. Requesting it takes weeks, and the six-week period keeps running in the meantime. He therefore submits a short notice of appeal within those six weeks and asks the court for a period in which to submit the grounds. The question is then no longer whether he was in time, but only whether he submits the supplement within the period given for remedying the omission. This is an example situation illustrating the rule, not a case handled by our firm.
What does the court review and what not?
The court assesses whether the decision on the objection is lawful — not whether UWV could have made a different, more lenient choice. The court rules on the basis of your notice of appeal, the documents and what was discussed at the hearing; it supplements the legal grounds itself, but it does not go looking for complaints you have not raised (article 8:69 Awb). In medical decisions, the court mainly reviews whether the examination by the insurance physician and the labour expert was careful and can be followed; it does not make a diagnosis itself. If it finds the appeal well-founded, it quashes the decision on the objection and UWV must decide again — this does not automatically mean a benefit is awarded.
What can you do if the court rules against you?
You can lodge a further appeal against the district court’s judgment with the Centrale Raad van Beroep (Central Appeals Tribunal) in Utrecht, again within six weeks. The Centrale Raad is the highest court for decisions on social insurance, such as the WW (Unemployment Insurance Act), the Ziektewet (Sickness Benefits Act) and the WIA (Work and Income according to Labour Capacity Act) (article 8:105 Awb in conjunction with chapter 4 of the Bevoegdheidsregeling bestuursrechtspraak (Administrative Jurisdiction Regulation)). A court fee is payable there as well. There is no cassation after that: the ruling of the Centrale Raad is in principle the end of the proceedings.
Do you want to know how the objection phase itself works, or are you still in it? Then read our page on objecting to a UWV decision.
When things go wrong
The deadline has passed. Six weeks is short and the clock runs from the day after the announcement, not from the moment you read the letter. Only if you cannot reasonably be blamed will a declaration of inadmissibility be avoided (article 6:11 Awb) — and this is applied strictly.
The court fee was not paid, or was paid too late. Anyone invoking inability to pay must also do so in time and substantiate it with up-to-date documents; a rejected request means that the original payment period simply continues to run.
The appeal merely repeats the objection. The court assesses the decision on the objection, so you must identify what is wrong with it: which medical or labour-related point was not examined, which documents were ignored, which reasoning is incorrect.
Consult a lawyer
Unsure whether an appeal makes sense, or is your deadline about to expire? Call 070 450 0300 or send your documents via arslan.nl/contact. The first consultation is free of charge and confidential. We have six offices and can also help you in Turkish, Polish and English.