FAQ's

If you live in the Netherlands and are married or are in a registered partnership, then your surviving dependents do not need to report your death to the pension fund. When someone dies the Persons Database (BRP, Basis Registratie Personen) automatically notifies the pension fund.

If you live in the Netherlands and are married or are in a registered partnership, then your surviving dependents must report your death to the pension fund. They can do this by sending a copy of the death certificate to SPF.

If you live in or outside of the Netherlands and have a notarial cohabitation contract, your partner must prove that they were still living with you at the time of your death. They can do this by sending SPF an extract from the population register that shows that you were living together.

As a member of SPF, you accrue pension not only for yourself but also for your partner (partner's pension) and your children (orphans' pension). These pensions start immediately in the event of your death. This is the case even if you have by no means reached the age of retirement. The Uniform Pension Statement (UPS) that you receive each year shows what your children and partner will receive in the event of your death.

Following a divorce or previous divorces, the partner's pension for the new partner or partners may be lower. The ‘Partner's and orphan's pension‘ brochure sets out the various options in the event of death (death before retirement, after retirement, the types of partner and orphans' pension, and so on).

For more information, visit our website at 'What happens if.... Death and pension'.

Factor A indicates how much your pension has grown in the basic pension scheme in a certain year. Factor A is stated in the Uniform Pension Statement (UPS) that you receive annually from the pension fund. You need your factor A to calculate how much you can supplement your pension with gross tax-free annuities.

If you have been ill for more than two years (legally 104 weeks) and have been declared more than 35% disabled, you are eligible for a statutory benefit in the event of disability. You receive this benefit from the Dutch Employee Insurance Agency (Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemersverzekeringen, UWV) on the government's behalf pursuant to the WIA (Work and Income [Capacity for Work] Act). If you are fully disabled, which means 80% or more, the UWV will grant you a WIA benefit amounting to a maximum of 75% of your last-earned wage before you became disabled. This is subject to a statutory maximum. The statutory benefit never exceeds 75% of the maximum income assessable to national insurance (as at January 1, 2025: €75,864). SPF offers you supplemental disability insurance.

For more information, please visit our website at 'What happens if ..... Disability’.

If you leave the company as a result of your disability, your employer will inform SPF of this.

From the moment you leave the company, you continue to fully or partially accrue your pension with SPF in the event of becoming fully or partially disabled. Depending on the degree of disability, you pay part of the contribution or no contribution at all.

If your pensionable income on the date of leaving employment is higher than the maximum income assessable to national insurance, you do not receive WIA benefit over that additional pensionable income. At SPF you are in this case eligible for a supplement in the form of a statutory disability pension. The disability pension is only paid out if you are fully disabled (80% or more). The disability pension is 70% of the pensionable income above the maximum income assessable to national insurance (from January 1, 2025: €75,864).

For more information, visit our website at 'What happens if.... Disability'.

Inform SPF if your disability percentage increases or decreases. The pension accrual is based on the degree of your disability on the date of leaving employment. If you subsequently become less (or more) disabled, you may accrue less (or more) pension. Your disability pension stops if your disability percentage falls below 80%. It is also possible that you receive a disability pension because your disability rises to 80% or more.

For more information, visit our website at 'What happens if.... Disability'.

Separation usually has serious implications for your retirement pension. In the event of a divorce, the pension rights accrued during the marriage period must be divided between you and your partner. This also applies to the PPS balance and the net pension capital. This is governed by the Equalization of Pension Rights in the Event of a Divorce Act (WVPS). The retirement pension accrued during the marriage or cohabitation period is shared. Under the standard division, 50% of the retirement pension goes to the member and 50% to the former partner. Your former partner's benefit starts at the same time as yours. On termination of a cohabitation contract, your former partner is only entitled to a part of the retirement pension if this is laid down in the contract.

A different division of the retirement pension is also possible, but this must be stated in the prenuptial agreement or in a separation or divorce agreement. As well as the retirement pension, there is also a partner's pension. Your former partner is entitled to the partner's pension that you have accrued from the date of commencement of membership until the date of separation. We refer to this as special partner's pension. In the event of your death, we pay out this special partner's pension to your former partner.

For more information, visit our website at 'What happens if... Divorce and pension'.

If you retire (full or partially) more than ten years before your state retirement age, you must end all or part of your paid activities. For that purpose you complete the ‘no paid work’ declaration of intent. This declaration is automatically sent with the application for retirement pension, if applicable. If you start your early retirement at a later date, you do not have to stop working.

If you want the retirement pension to start before the state age of retirement, you must apply for this in person.

For more information, visit our website at 'Pension alternatives.... Retiring on a pension'.

The soonest you can retire is when you reach the age of 55. The pension benefit is lower because your pension has to be paid out for a longer period of time and you accrue less pension if you retire early.

If you have previously saved via the PPS scheme, you can use the saved PPS balance to increase your (lifelong) retirement pension. You can start your retirement pension between the age of 60 and your state retirement age. If necessary, you can also have the pension start after the state pension age, no later than 5 years after the state pension age.
You can also use the PPS balance for a temporary PPS payment prior to your retirement pension.

For more information, visit our website at 'Pension alternatives.... PPS scheme'.

We cannot imagine that would be the case. During certain periods, investing as an individual may result in higher returns compared with membership of a pension fund through your pension contributions. However, if investment as an individual also means that all risks of investment are directly for the individual’s account. You must be well aware of this. Among other things, SPF makes use of advantages of scale in the case of investment (low costs). This means that we can spread the risks over all members. This risk is also spread over longer periods of time. Over the past 10 years, SPF achieved an average annual return of 8%.

Based on the pension contributions and returns, SPF is responsible for the pension contributions and pension payments of all members. SPF provides you with disability insurance. You partner and children are also insured in the event of your death.

Yes, if you are cohabiting and have documented this in a cohabitation agreement, then you are required to take action. You must register your partner with SPF. You can do this with the completed and signed ‘Form registering the partner with whom you are cohabiting’. You must send this form together with the required documents (copies of your proof of identity, a copy of the cohabitation agreement, and your partner’s extract from the Persons Database).

For more information (and the documents to be sent), please read the ‘Marriage and cohabitation‘ brochure.

No, SPF will be informed of this via the Dutch government's Personal Records Database. You therefore do not need to report this to us. If you live abroad, you must report getting married or entering into a registered partnership. You are then required to send a copy of the marriage certificate to SPF.

For more information (and the documents to be sent), please read the ‘Marriage and cohabitation‘ brochure.

Costs:

• The employer rather than the member pays the administration fees of the Net Pension Scheme (NPS).
• Low investment costs compared to an insurer.

Membership of the NPS involves full statutory cover for the risk of disability and (if insured) for the risk of death. If you decide to join the NPS at SPF, all your pension entitlements are administered by the same pension fund. This gives you a clearer overview of your pension entitlements. Unlike an insurer, the pension fund is allowed to use different scales, which means that the scope of the contribution is more than with an insurer. The pension capital that you form with the net contributions is not taxed in Box 3. An advantage of transferring the contribution to an insurer is that you can indicate the group of people entitled to benefits in the event of death. In this case, SPF has a statutory group of beneficiaries who are eligible for a benefit in the event of death. This group of beneficiaries consists of the partner and any children.

You can retire from the age of 55. It is possible that you were a member of the SABIC early retirement scheme before January 1, 2006. In that case, the PPS balance you have saved is reserved separately. Interest is credited to this balance. 

For more information, visit our website at 'Pension alternatives.... PPS scheme'.

Do you not have a partner, or is your partner financially independent? In that case, you can choose not to receive a partner's pension when you retire. The accrued partner's pension, or part of it, can be used for a higher retirement pension. You do however need your partner's consent to exchange the partner's pension because in that case your partner will receive no, or less, benefit after your death. 
This is done automatically for participants who do not have a partner when they retire.

For more information, visit our website at ‘Pension alternatives… Exchange Partner's Pension’.

You can vary the amount of your retirement pension. If you do not yet receive a state pension when you retire, or if you still have financial obligations (e.g. a mortgage), you can opt for a ‘high/low benefit’. In that case, the period of the benefit is split into two, as it were. For example, the payment in the first period is higher than the payment in the second. The other way around is also possible. The amount of these benefits is based on the accrued pension at the time you retire.

For more information, visit our website at ‘Pension alternatives… Varying the payment'.

You can also consult the pension planner on the website. This allows you to use your own pension data to consider the options for taking early retirement.

For more information, visit our website at ‘Pension alternatives….PPS scheme’.

If you decide to stop working before your retirement age, your pension benefit will be lower. This is because your accrued entitlements are spread over a number of years. You will also accrue fewer years of pension.

If you have previously saved via the PPS scheme, you can use the saved PPS balance to increase your (lifelong) retirement pension. You can start your retirement pension between the age of 55 and your state retirement age.
You can also use the PPS balance for a temporary PPS payment prior to your retirement pension.

For more information, visit our website at Pension alternatives.... PPS-scheme.

The General Old Age Pensions Act (AOW) provides for a basic state pension for all Dutch residents who reach the state pension age. You accrue a full state pension if you have lived and/or worked in the Netherlands in the 50 years before you reach state pension age. Your state pension is reduced by 2% for each year that you miss. The Social Insurance Bank (SVB) grants and pays out your state pension. 

Your state retirement age depends on your year of birth.
More information about the AOW is given at svb.nl. Here you can find your state retirement age and the payment dates of your state pension. You will find your accrued and attainable statement pension on the website ‘mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl‘.

The government website 'mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl' provides an overview of all pensions that a person in the Netherlands has accrued over time with different pension funds. You can only access the site with a DigiD code. That is your state login code. If you do not have a DigiD code, you can apply for one via the website ‘digid.nl‘.

If the website ‘mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl‘ cannot answer your questions about your former pension administrator, there are some more possibilities. See the following websites:

If you have proof or a statement of the entitlements, you can contact the information desk of 'De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB)' by telephone for the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of existing pension funds and/or insurance companies. The information desk is open from Monday to Friday between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM on telephone number +31 (0)800-0201068 (free of charge) or by email: info@dnb.nl. You can also go to the DNB website dnb.nl.

If you do not have proof or a statement, you can contact your former employer or former colleagues if the employer cannot be found. You can also ask the trade unions if they know the company. For certain sectors, membership of a company pension fund is compulsory, which means that can report directly to that fund. For a pension facility that has been placed with an insurance company, you can contact the ‘verbond van verzekeraars‘ (Dutch Association of Insurers).

You can submit an application for value transfer by sending the completed and signed ‘Value transfer application form’ to SPF. You will find this form on the website under downloads.

For more information, visit our website at 'Pension alternatives.... Value transfer'.