Netherland: Law of Pension Communication & Retirement 123

The number of people who are aged 60 years and older has been rapidly increasing in nearly every country around the world in recent years. This rapid increase in older persons is due in part to the large number of babies born during the post-World War II era and in part due to the longer life expectancy that many people around the world are able to enjoy in our modern society. Not only has this age group increased in number over recent years, it is expected to continue to grow at an even more rapid rate in the decades to come.

The growth of this older demographic on such a global scale is expected to have major consequences on our society in the 21st Century. A growing strain on pension schemes around the world is one of the consequences that are starting to take its toll in many countries around the world.

In order to over come the strain on pension schemes, many countries are starting to pass new laws governing the schemes or considering new laws to help strained schemes stay afloat. In the Netherlands, a new law has gone into affect as of July 1, 2016. The new law requires pension schemes to provide their members with more straight forward communications regarding the status of their pensions through a program entitled Retirement 123.

Retirement 123 will now replace the introductory letter for all new pensioners. The concept behind the program is to provide all employees (regardless of age) with information that is easy-to-access and understand regarding the current amount in their pension funds. Previously, many employees were unaware of their low pension amount until shortly before retirement. At such a late stage, taking any action to remedy the low amount was extremely difficult. Under the new law, younger employees will have easy access to this information, giving them the opportunity to take affirmative action to increase their pension amounts at a time when taking action can have big results down the line.

More information can be found at the Retirement 1-2-3 website (in Dutch).

To discuss the changes with Asinta’s partner in the Netherlands, please contact Schouten Zekerheid.

Information about the current ageing world population were taken from the 2015 Report on Population Ageing, published by the United Nations. The PDF can be found here.