Which sector fund applies to your business?

Almost every industry in Belgium falls under a joint committee (paritair comité, PC), and most joint committees have their own sector fund, often called a "fonds voor bestaanszekerheid" (social security fund). That fund is a separate legal entity, established by collective agreement within the joint committee, with its own board of employer and trade union representatives.

The legal remit of such a fund differs from sector to sector, but training is a core task almost everywhere: the fund organises or finances training, awards premiums, and supports employers in meeting their legal training obligations. Some funds combine this with other social benefits.

Sector funds do not work with government subsidies but with mandatory employer contributions. Every employer that falls under a given joint committee automatically contributes to that sector's fund via social security contributions. This happens regardless of whether you actually send anyone on training: the contribution is due as soon as you employ staff within that joint committee.

From that common pot, the fund then finances the training offer, the premiums and the contributions for the whole sector. For you as an employer, this mainly means: the training and premiums you are entitled to have already been financed through contributions you pay anyway. Leaving them unused is quite literally leaving money on the table.

In practice, making use of them stands or falls with registration: premiums and contributions generally presuppose that you can show, per employee, who completed which training. A training registration tool such as Smart Lions tracks completed training and attendance per employee, so you do not have to reconstruct that data in a separate spreadsheet the moment you apply for a premium.

The offer differs considerably per fund, but usually falls into one or more of these categories:

• Free or sharply reduced training offer: the fund organises training itself or pre-finances it, so that you as an employer pay little or no course fee.
• Flat-rate premiums or subsidies: a fixed amount per completed training hour or day, paid to the employer after participation.
• Contributions to training costs: partial reimbursement of external or internal training you organise yourself.
• Training credit or career account: an annual budget or entitlement in days per employee that you can use within the sector.
• Advice and guidance: help with drawing up your training plan or complying with your sectoral obligations.

The exact amounts and conditions per fund are in the overview further down this guide.

The joint committee your company falls under is determined by your main activity, not by how you describe your business yourself. You will find your PC number on your employees' payslips, in the Dimona declaration, or by asking your payroll agency (sociaal secretariaat).

Once you know your joint committee, you also know which sector fund applies to you: in the overview below we link each joint committee to its fund. Via the full overview of joint committees on smartlions.academy you will also immediately find the bookable training offer for your sector.

Below you will find, per joint committee, the sector fund and a link to the corresponding training offer. Some funds serve several joint committees at once.

Metal, technology and inspection bodies — Mtech+

Mtech+ finances a largely free training offer (in cooperation with VDAB, the Flemish employment service), a career account with training credit, and project subsidies for workable work and sustainable employability. Mtech+ covers PC 111 (blue-collar workers, metal industry), PC 209 (white-collar employees, metal industry) and PC 219 (approved inspection bodies).

Chemicals — Co-valent

Co-valent offers free training to employees in the chemicals sector, supplemented by an annual flat-rate subsidy of € 35 per employee per completed training hour. Co-valent covers PC 116 (blue-collar workers) and PC 207 (white-collar employees).

Food — Alimento

Alimento is the food industry's sectoral training and HR fund: a free or sharply reduced training offer, support with the sectoral training plan and contributions to training costs. Alimento covers PC 118 (blue-collar workers) and PC 220 (white-collar employees).

Textiles — Cobot

Cobot, the sectoral training centre for textiles, awards training subsidies per recognised training day, supplemented by advice and guidance. Cobot covers PC 120 (blue-collar workers) and PC 214 (white-collar employees).

Paper and cardboard — PaperPackSkills

PaperPackSkills is the social security fund for paper and cardboard processing: a free training offer and contributions to training costs for both PC 136 (blue-collar workers) and PC 222 (white-collar employees).

Other sector funds

• OpFo100 — PC 100, blue-collar workers: free tailor-made training (VCA, first aid, Code 95, soft skills, Excel, sustainable employability); as the employer you only pay wages and travel costs.
• Cevora — PC 200, white-collar employees: free training (digital skills, AI, safety), pre-financed by the social fund, plus training premiums for employers.
• Sociaal Fonds van de Betonindustrie — PC 106.02, concrete industry: free basic concrete knowledge training, provided at least 5 blue-collar workers from PC 106.02 take part, plus other standard training.
• Volta — PC 149.01, electricians: a training premium per employee, and a collective training right of an average of 3 days per full-time employee per year.
• Logos — PC 226, international trade, transport and logistics: free sectoral training and financing of in-company training initiatives.
• Educam — PC 149.04, metal trade: free training and personal advice, plus a training subsidy including € 45 per completed training day, subject to conditions.
• Fonds 323 — PC 323, real estate sector: finances vocational training for employees and young people; since the 2025-2026 sector agreement, also sectoral financing for individual training and mentoring.
• Liberform — PC 336, liberal professions: a free training offer, financial support for paid training, and tools, advice and guidance for employers.
• SFTL — PC 140, road transport and logistics: an annual training budget per employer, with reimbursement of internal and external training costs.
• Sociaal Fonds 201 — PC 201, independent retail: training premiums, plus premiums for dual learning and mentorship.
• Constructiv — PC 124, construction: contributions to training and wage costs, a subsidy per training hour and a premium per winter training day.

For three joint committees we have not been able to confirm a separate verified sector fund at present: business services (PC 335), gas and electricity (PC 326) and furnishing and woodworking (PC 126). That does not mean no contribution exists for your sector at all — best ask your payroll agency or your joint committee directly. The bookable training offer for these sectors is already available on the sector pages for business services, gas and electricity and furnishing and woodworking.

Is your company established in Flanders? Then in the meantime you can often fall back on the kmo-portefeuille (the Flemish SME training subsidy): small enterprises receive 30% support, medium-sized enterprises 20%, with a maximum of € 7,500 per year, for training within one of the eight future-oriented themes (business strategy, occupation-specific competences, digitalisation, sustainability, financial literacy, innovation, internationalisation and personnel management). For cybersecurity and energy-efficiency themes, support even rises to 45% (small) or 35% (medium-sized). The service provider must, however, be registered for the kmo-portefeuille.

Whichever fund applies to your sector: the bookable training offer per joint committee, including the training you can take free of charge or with a contribution via your sector fund, is conveniently gathered in the sector overview.

Smart Lions registers completed training and attendance and automatically calculates the individual training right per employee — free to use, whatever your company size. If you also want to track your subsidies and premiums, you can do so in the Basic plan, whose price grows with your company size (from € 10 per month, excl. VAT). Via this link you can also test the full application free for 30 days.

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Sources: Training plans – FPS Employment (werk.belgie.be) · Kmo-portefeuille – VLAIO · Mtech+ · Alimento · Constructiv