Recovery-oriented services: help that goes beyond money
After an accident, almost all attention goes to the question of how much money will come. Understandable, but it is not the only thing that matters. Anyone who is out of action for months loses more than income: the overview, the work rhythm, sometimes the confidence that things will ever be all right again.
Recovery-oriented services are the branch of personal injury practice that focuses on this. In the description used by De Letselschade Raad (the Personal Injury Council), it is “aimed at the (functional) recovery of a person with personal injury”.
More than medical recovery
It is expressly not only about healing. Recovery-oriented services also cover practical, psychological, emotional and social recovery – including getting back confidence and autonomy.
In practice that means concrete things: help with arranging facilities, guidance with returning to work, support at home, or someone who takes over the coordination for as long as you cannot do that yourself.
Who provides it
They are professional service providers, not volunteers and not part of the insurer. Since October 2022 there has been a dedicated professional organisation: the Vereniging Herstelgerichte Dienstverleners (VHD, the Association of Recovery-Oriented Service Providers).
Recovery-oriented service providers also belong to the groups that endorse the Gedragscode Behandeling Letselschade (Code of Conduct for the Handling of Personal Injury Claims).
Who pays for it
This is the point that is most often missed. Recovery-oriented services come with a duty to pay on the part of the liable party and/or insurer. So it does not come out of your own pocket and it is not an amount that is later deducted from your compensation as if it were an advance either.
The underlying idea is that settling a claim is more than paying out money. Faster and better reintegration limits the damage – that is also in the interest of the insurer.
How you raise it
Do not wait until the insurer brings it up, because that is far from always the case. Ask about it yourself, and do so early: the sooner recovery-oriented help starts, the more it delivers.
Name specifically where you are stuck – not “I cannot cope”, but “I cannot get up the stairs”, “I cannot work it out with my employer about adapted work”, “the paperwork is piling up”. That makes it easier for the case handler to bring in the right service provider.
It does not replace your compensation
Recovery-oriented services stand alongside the financial settlement; they are complementary to the compensation, not an alternative. So do not let yourself be persuaded that you are “already getting help” and must therefore settle for less. Your items of damage are established in the ordinary way. See assessing a compensation proposal.
Recovery-oriented services in Rotterdam
Recovery takes place where you live: at your home in Rotterdam, at your employer and with the facilities in the municipality. That is why it is worth knowing which desks in Rotterdam belong here.
For facilities that do not fall under liability – home adaptations, transport, household support via the Wmo – Gemeente Rotterdam (the municipality of Rotterdam) is the point of contact. Always mention that a personal injury case is ongoing: the municipality and the insurer can settle costs between them, and you do not want one to point to the other. The current information is on rotterdam.nl.
If you do not know whether a particular form of help must be paid by the insurer or runs via the municipality, you can have that looked into free of charge at Het Juridisch Loket Rotterdam (the Legal Desk) (Schiekade 34, 3032 AJ Rotterdam), telephone 0900-8020. See het juridisch loket rotterdam.
If the insurer continues to refuse to pay for recovery-oriented help while liability is established, you can put that before the court as a defined point. For residents of Rotterdam that is the Rechtbank Rotterdam (the district court), Wilhelminaplein 100, 3072 AK Rotterdam. See rechtspraak.nl.
This information is general in nature and is not legal advice about your personal situation. Checked in August 2026 against the publications of De Letselschade Raad on recovery-oriented services.