The Dutch government wants to make the submission date for the implementation plan flexible: instead of 1 July 2025, pension funds will be able to submit the plans for their new pension arrangement until one year before their intended transition to a new defined contribution (DC) pension arrangement.
At the moment, all pension funds must submit their implementation plans to regulator DNB by 1 July 2025, a deadline that looked increasingly unrealistic as many funds have not even made a formal decision about the kind of pension arrangement they want to introduce for the new DC pension system.
The move comes two weeks after minister of social affairs Eddy van Hijum said he was leaning towards delaying the 2025 deadline in order to prevent “peak pressure” for pension regulator DNB.
Last month, the government’s commissioner for the pension transition, Fieke van der Lecq, also recommended pushing the deadline forward.
She suggested linking the submission date for the implementation plan to a pension fund’s intended transition moment, a piece of advice that has now been followed by the minister.
In written answers to questions from members of parliament (MPs), van Hijum acknowledged that the date of 1 July 2025 could come “unnecessarily early” for funds that plan to make the transition in 2027 or 2028.
Funds will instead be allowed to submit their plans to the regulator “no later than 12 months” before their intended transition date.
European subsidies
According to the minister, financial support from the NextGenerationEU fund will not be jeopardised by the extra time. The European Commission is said to have indicated this during informal consultations last week, according to the ministry.
In order to receive the €5.4bn in EU funds in full, 66% of pension funds will need to have submitted their implementation plans by 31 March 2026.
This article was first published on Pensioen Pro, IPE’s Dutch sister publication. It was translated and adapted for IPE by Tjibbe Hoekstra
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