Future Pensions Act: what you need to arrange as an employer before 1 January 2028

What changes under the Future Pensions Act?

Until the Wtp, most employees built up their pension in an average-salary scheme (a fixed benefit for each year worked) or in a defined contribution scheme with an age-dependent scale: the older the employee, the higher the contribution. Both will disappear. From the transition date, the following applies:

• Defined contribution schemes only. The employer pays in a contribution and the employee builds up personal pension capital that is invested. The amount of the pension is no longer fixed in advance.
• A flat (age-independent) contribution for new employees. The same percentage of the pensionable base for every age. The tax-approved maximum is 30 percent of the pensionable base.
• Entry age 18 instead of 21.
• New survivor's pension. The partner's pension on death before the retirement date is insured on a risk basis, at a maximum of 50 percent of salary, regardless of the number of years of service. The orphan's pension continues until age 25.

What does the Wtp mean for you as an employer?

Four decisions you cannot leave to the pension provider:

1. Which scheme? With an insurer or a premium pension institution (PPI) you choose a flexible defined contribution scheme, optionally with a fixed benefit from the retirement date. With a pension fund, the fund chooses between the solidarity-based and the flexible defined contribution scheme.
2. Which contribution? A flat percentage that fits your budget and what employees are currently building up. For younger employees a flat contribution is more favourable; for older employees it is often less favourable.
3. Which compensation? Employees who are worse off as a result of the transition must be adequately compensated.
4. How do you involve the works council and employees? The works council has a right of consent under Article 27 of the Works Councils Act. Employees must understand what is changing; you record the choices in a transition plan.

Solidarity-based or flexible contribution scheme: what is the difference?

The Wtp has two kinds of defined contribution scheme. Both work with a fixed contribution and a pension that depends on investment returns. The difference lies in how much is done collectively.

Sources: AFM (Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets), Soorten pensioenregelingen (consulted 4 November 2026); DNB (Dutch central bank), Solidariteitsreserve en risicodelingsreserve; Pensions Act Articles 1, 10a and 10b. A fund may hold a larger reserve directly after conversion; the 15 percent limit applies by 1 January 2037 at the latest.

If you are affiliated with a mandatory industry-wide fund, the fund makes the choice and your task is mainly to explain what it means for your employees.

What is grandfathering (eerbiedigende werking) under the Wtp?

Do you currently have a defined contribution scheme with an age-dependent scale? Then you may continue it for existing employees. This is known as grandfathering (eerbiedigende werking). Only new employees who join after the transition date receive the flat contribution. You then run two schemes side by side, which requires extra attention in administration and communication.

Do you have an average-salary scheme with an insurer? Then there is no automatic grandfathering. Have it assessed in good time which transition route is still open for your scheme; this determines the compensation you will have to pay.

How does compensation work under the Future Pensions Act?

With an age-dependent scale, you paid a higher contribution for older employees. With a flat contribution, less goes in for them. Those who can no longer make up that gap build up less pension than under the old scheme. According to the Dutch government, this mainly concerns employees aged roughly 40 to 55. Employer and employee representatives decide together whether and how they are compensated.

The rules at a glance:

• Participants only. Compensation applies to employees who are still accruing pension in the scheme, not to former employees or pensioners.
• Forms. Extra pension accrual, paid for with a surcharge on the contribution. With a pension fund, it can also come from a compensation reserve (compensatiedepot) or through the allocation on conversion.
• Tax room. The tax-approved maximum contribution of 30 percent of the base may be raised by 3 percentage points for compensation, to 33 percent. There is no tax maximum on the amount of compensation one employee receives.
• Period. The compensation period starts on the effective date of the new scheme and ends on 31 December 2036 at the latest.

Sources: Dutch government, Overgang naar nieuwe pensioenstelsel (consulted 4 November 2026); Dutch Tax Administration, V&A 23-014 (1 July 2023); DNB, Compensatie en compensatiedepot (29 June 2023).

Calculate compensation per employee. With a young workforce the gap is often small; with many employees around 50 it can become a considerable cost.

What goes into a transition plan?

The transition plan is the document in which the employer and employee representatives (trade union or works council) record their choices for the switch, with the calculations behind them. According to DNB and the Dutch government, it contains at least:

• the new scheme: which type of defined contribution scheme, which contribution and which accrual;
• the effects per age group: who is better off and who is worse off;
• the agreements on compensation and how it is funded;
• for a pension fund: whether accrued pensions will be converted (invaren);
• the justification of why the switch is balanced for all groups.

Within two weeks of completing the plan, you send it to your pension provider, which publishes it on its website so employees can read it. With an insurer or PPI, the plan must be submitted by 1 October 2027 at the latest. You also draw up a communication plan: how and when you will inform your employees.

When must your pension scheme be Wtp-compliant? Step-by-step plan up to 1 January 2028

By 1 January 2028 at the latest. This is the route if you start now:

1. Inventory (month 1). Current scheme, administration agreement and end date, bpf and collective labour agreement check, workforce by age and salary.
2. Analysis (months 2 and 3). Calculation of current versus new accrual per employee. Scenarios for the flat contribution and the compensation. Determining the level of the survivor's pension. Budget decision by management.
3. Advice and choice of pension provider (months 3 to 5). Market research, comparing quotes, making a choice. Draft pension regulations and draft transition plan.
4. Works council consent (months 5 to 7). Request for consent with explanatory notes, round of questions, possibly an independent adviser for the works council.
5. Implementation and communication (months 7 to 10). Submitting the transition plan, signing the contract, setting up portals, adjusting payroll, presentations and personal overviews for employees.

Does the works council have a right of consent in the switch to the Wtp?

Yes. A change to the pension scheme falls under the right of consent in Article 27 of the Works Councils Act. If there is a collective labour agreement with pension arrangements, the trade union makes those arrangements. The Dutch government names the works council and the trade union together as the employees' representatives for the transition plan. If the parties cannot agree, an independent committee can mediate.

The works council can only give its consent once it understands the proposal. So give the works council a role early on: inform it during the analysis phase, have the draft reviewed and offer an independent explanation. Then the employees: a presentation at the start, a personal overview of old versus new and a drop-in session for individual questions. This turns a legal obligation into an employment benefit that employees value.

Frequently asked questions

This article provides general information and is not advice for your specific situation. Amounts and percentages are based on the legislation as known in 2026.

Figures and dates checked on 4 November 2026. Sources: Dutch government, Overgang naar nieuwe pensioenstelsel (consulted 4 November 2026); DNB, Vijf vragen over de overgang naar het nieuwe pensioenstelsel (updated 22 July 2026); DNB, Transitieplan Wet toekomst pensioenen (updated July 2024); DNB, Compensatie en compensatiedepot (29 June 2023); DNB, Solidariteitsreserve en risicodelingsreserve; Dutch Tax Administration, V&A 23-014 Maximering compensatiepremie en compensatiebedrag (1 July 2023); AFM, Soorten pensioenregelingen (consulted 4 November 2026); Pensions Act (Pensioenwet) (version in force from 1 January 2026).

Read next: Setting up a pension scheme for your employees · Explaining gross and net pension to employees

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