“Pension Reform: Senate Debate on Transition to Personal Pension Pot System”

According to PvdA senator Ferd Crone, the transition to the new pension system is a complicated operation. In the current plans, pension funds have until 2027 to do so. “Speed ​​is less important than quality. It has to go well. So maybe we should take an extra year or two for it.”

PvdA and GroenLinks also want the promise of pension minister Carola Schouten that there will be a permanent arrangement for people with a heavy profession, so that they can retire earlier. There is now such a scheme, but it will end in two years.

Get on

“That arrangement must continue,” says Crone. “And he needs to be a little more generous, especially for lower income groups.” According to the PvdA member, with the current heavy professions scheme you lose too much in income, so that people with low incomes still cannot afford to stop working earlier.

Tomorrow is the debate in the Senate on the pension law. It is the final hurdle for pension reform after years of debate and dozens of parliamentary debates on the subject. “It will be a substantive and also a long debate,” says Minister Schouten. “That’s good and I’m looking forward to it.”

In the video below we explain what will change:

shortcomings

The shortcomings of the current system are becoming increasingly apparent. Due to the great certainty that is promised about the pension you will receive at the end of the journey, most pensions could not be increased for years or even had to be reduced. Pension funds had to keep large sums of money in cash in order to fulfill that pension promise.

If the Senate approves the pension reform, everyone will receive a personal pension pot. “So that it will soon be clear: this is what you build”, explains Schouten. The certainty you now have about the pension you will receive at the end of the journey will be let go. In this way, pensions can rise more quickly in good times.

Reverse

There is a downside to this: pensions also go down faster in bad times. Your pension will therefore move more with the economy. There will be a kind of general piggy bank to absorb major blows, to prevent pensions from suddenly falling sharply in the event of a major economic dip.

Next week, the Senate will vote on the pension law. If the Senate gives the green light, the biggest reform of our pension system in decades could be initiated.