The number of security companies has increased significantly over the past five years, reports the Chamber of Commerce (KVK). Nearly 3,800 companies were registered in 2018, in 2023 that number will have increased by as much as 167 percent and is now over 10,000. The increase is mainly attributable to the number of self-employed workers in the sector. Their number increased from 2511 to 8613 in the same period.
The latter development, in particular, is a cause for concern for the Private Social Security Fund (SFPB). Marianna Clarijs, general secretary of the SFPB, calls it ‘poverty of the future’. According to her, “there is too little thought about social security, such as incapacity for work and pensions”.
No pension
Clarijs points out that the growth in the number of companies does not mean that the number of people employed in the security sector has also increased enormously. ‘The growing group of self-employed people consists in part of security guards who are self-employed because they are employed by larger security companies. But newly graduated security guards can also be hired for a sum higher than that of an employee, but they cannot pay themselves a pension or further training with that sum.’
The secretary fears negative consequences due to the huge increase in the number of self-employed workers without employees. ‘While as a social fund we stand up for compliance with the collective labor agreement, high-quality security guards and healthy working hours, this is often not observed by self-employed workers without employees. For example, a security guard must be very vigilant, working more than the maximum ten hours allowed can affect the quality of work.’
SFPB announces a survey of self-employed workers in the sector and says it wants to dialogue with them to arrive at ‘common solutions’.
56 percent of security companies are located in North or South Holland, together they represent 5656 companies. Zeeland and Drenthe have the fewest security companies: 108 and 137 respectively.
Source: BNR
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