From webinar to changed contribution and accrual
What has changed and why?
During the ‘Income after retirement’ webinar in September, we reflected on the pension scheme in some detail and how and why the contribution and pension accrual is changing. The five-year contribution agreement ended at the end of 2020, and the new contribution and pension accrual started on 1 January 2021. What does this mean? This article outlines all the major changes for you.
Difference between contribution and accrual
The pension contribution that you and your employer pay together is the price of your pension, as it were. How much pension you obtain for this is the pension accrual. This amount is also fixed. Everything that you accrue each year in pension forms your pension. This is how you know what you will receive when you retire. You can see how much that will be under Mijn pensioen. You will continue to receive that amount for as long as you live. This pension agreement forms part of your employment conditions.
Webinar ‘Income after retirement’
TNO Pension Fund organized the ‘Income after retirement’ webinar in September. That webinar was an important milestone in providing information about the contribution changes. We are also really pleased that the turnout was so high and that we were able to answer all the questions. If you missed the webinar or would like to watch it again (52 minutes, with English subtitles), you can! Watch the review: read all about the webinar, click on the review link, and find out more about your pension and the changes.
The changes in 2021
Pension accrual is under pressure due to low interest rates and lower returns. It’s therefore becoming difficult to guarantee pension accrual. That’s why change is needed. You either need to accrue less pension or you need to pay more to continue accruing that same pension. During the TNO working conditions negotiations, the decision was reached to take the middle road. Otherwise, you would have had to pay much more in pension contributions or your pension accrual would have been much lower.
The new pension agreement became effective as of 1 January 2021, together with several annual, fiscal (statutory) changes. Do you want to know whether you are still accruing enough pension? You can view the consequences of the changes as at 2021 in the Pension Planner under Mijn pensioen. You can find Mijn pensioen in the top right on TNO Pension Fund’s website. When you log in with your DigiD, you are taken to your personal pension pages.
Tip for extra pension
The new pension agreement and the changes that started as of 1 January 2021 are explained in detail on the website in a comprehensive newsletter. You can read there what this means for your pension accrual. The changes as of 2021 mean there is additional fiscal space for the voluntary supplementary pension scheme ‘extra pension’. That may be interesting for you if you want to accrue extra pension capital as a supplement to your pension. This is all covered in the newsletter on the website.
Coming years: review each year
The new contribution agreement has been set for one year. The TNO social partners, meaning the Board of Management and the Works Council, will re-determine the contribution and the pension accrual each year. They will do this until the arrival of the new system. The percentage of your pension accrual can therefore vary each year. That may feel like an uncertain factor, but this enables us to respond to the situation at that time and to ensure better alignment with the new system.
New system
In the new pension system, the pension accrual will actually follow economic developments. The contribution will then be different too. How this will look exactly is not yet known. It will take until the end of 2025 before we will have made a complete switch to a new pension system. First the new pension act still needs to be adopted, after which there will be an implementation process with a transition period. If you would like more information, the main themes of the new system are described in a newsletter on our website.
What action can you take?
Do you want to accrue pension elsewhere and not just with your employer? We explain clearly on our website how you accrue your pension and what you can arrange yourself to supplement this.