Gradual Dutch State Pension Age Increase Harder to Manage

18 May 2012 (PLANSPONSOREurope.com) – A gradual increase in the Netherlands’ state pension age rather than a one-off increase will be harder to manage for Dutch pension funds, a spokesperson for Dutch pension delivery organisation APG has told PLANSPONSOR Europe. 

Some of the measures in this week’s austerity package agreed by coalition partners as leaked by Dutch newspaper the Telegraaf include:  

• The state pension age to go up to 66 in 2019 in stages  
• An end to the tax break on employee travel costs  
• Employers to pay first six months of unemployment benefit  
• Redundancy pay to be maximised at half a year's salary, procedures to be simplified  
• Golden handshakes cash over €531,000 taxed at 75%  

An APG spokesperson told PLANSPONSOR Europe that the devil will be in the detail of these reforms. “Until these agreements are fully worked out, it remains difficult to say anything meaningful. As said previously, the sooner there is clarity, the better.  

“In terms of execution, a step by step raising of the pension age is more difficult to handle than a one-off increase, but we’ll manage.”  

Graham Simons
editors@plansponsoreurope.com