And now to work on the Future of Pensions Act!

The Future of Pensions Act has been passed by the Dutch House of Representatives. If the Dutch Senate also approves the bill (expected in January or February), it will take effect on 1 July 2023. All pension schemes must meet the new Pensions Act by 1 January 2027. 

A summary of the latest changes

In recent weeks, various motions have been submitted to amend the wording of the Act. This has ensured a majority of the Dutch House of Representatives supporting the Act, which in turn may ensure sufficient backing from the Dutch Senate. In summary, the main changes in the legislative proposal for insurance companies and premium pension institutions are as follows.

• The statutory minimum age for pension accrual goes down from 21 to 18. The main benefit is that working young people will start accruing pension earlier.
• The qualifying period for temporary workers to accrue pension no longer applies.
• The Minister will have a duty of care to halve the number of employees without pensions to about 450,000 in five years.
• Changes have also been made to the surviving dependants’ pension. This will allow you to voluntarily continue the cover for longer after your employment ends.

We will keep you informed

It is quite a challenge for pension providers, together with their clients and advisers, to amend all pension schemes in the Netherlands on time. We will keep you abreast of the changes we will be making to our products and services over the coming months. In addition, we already have tools available for advisers to make up-to-date calculations. This way they will be better equipped to support employers in the transition to the new system.

More information is available here.

Guidance

The Future of Pensions Act will also bring new guidelines on guiding participants to help them make informed choices. Those guidelines will take effect on 1 July 2023 for all pension schemes, regardless of whether they have already been amended in line with the new system. With this in mind, we ask ourselves in all participant decision making processes: how can we make it even easier for participants to make well-informed pension choices?

While 1 January 2027 may still seem a long way off, we would nevertheless urge employers and advisers to set to work on the new system together. We will be happy to share our input at an early stage to help you devise practicable solutions regarding the new schemes – if only to stay ahead of the long queue of clients seeking to update their schemes to the new Act at the very last minute in late 2026.