Delta Lloyd is one of the major insurance companies in the Netherlands.
Ouderdomsoverbruggingspensioen
Een
ouderdomsoverbruggingspensioen wordt onder de nieuwe
regelgeving ook als een pensioenregeling aangemerkt. Het
ouderdomsoverbruggingspensioen is een regeling die het
ouderdomspensioen aanvult in verband met het ontbreken van
AOW-uitkeringen v��r de 65-jarige leeftijd en het verschil in
verschuldigde premie voor de volksverzekering AOW v��r en na de
65-jarige leeftijd. Het ouderdomsoverbruggingspensioen gaat in
op hetzelfde tijdstip als het ouderdomspensioen en eindigt
uiterlijk bij het bereiken van de 65-jarige leeftijd.
2. Overlijden en verzorging van nabestaanden
ši 2.1 Eerste pijler:
Algemene Nabestaandenwet (ANW)
De ANW
is net als de AOW een volksverzekering. De ANW wordt
gefinancierd door premies. Die worden betaald door alle
verzekerden, ongeacht de leeftijd.
De ANW dekt het risico van overlijden van de partner en van de ouders. De nabestaande krijgt echter alleen een uitkering als hij aan bepaalde voorwaarden voldoet. De hoogte van de uitkering is afhankelijk van het inkomen van de nabestaande. De ANW is een risicoverzekering, en geen opbouwverzekering zoals de AOW. Dat betekent dat als het risico zich voordoet (de verzekerde overlijdt), de nabestaande een uitkering krijgt als zij/ hij aan de voorwaarden voldoet. Het is niet van belang hoelang men al verzekerd is geweest. Wel is het zo dat iemand die ook buitenlands nabestaandenpensioen krijgt een gekorte ANW-uitkering kan krijgen.
Rechthebbenden nabestaandenuitkering
De volgende
groepen hebben recht op een nabestaandenuitkering:
De nabestaandenuitkering eindigt als:
Halfwezenuitkering
Naast de
nabestaandenuitkering kan de ANW recht geven op een
halfwezenuitkering. Recht op halfwezenuitkering heeft de ouder
of verzorger van een halfwees die dit kind in zijn huishouden
opneemt. Een halfwees is een kind jonger dan 18 jaar met ��n
ouder, waarvan de andere ouder is overleden.
Pensions in the Netherlands
General
The system of social security legislation in the Netherlands is based on three pillars:
First pillar: a basic provision for all Dutch
citizens (General Old Age Pension Act (AOW))
Second pillar: pension scheme via the employer. The second
pillar is covered by:
1 Compulsory industry-wide pension funds (68 funds and 5,4500,000 employees)
2 Company pension fund (800 funds and 802,000 employee)
3 Remainder: mainly private pension funds;
1 and 2 together cover about 80% of the market.
The assets in pension funds amount to approximately 400 to 500 billion euro. Including other arrangements approximately 600 billion euro. An important fact is that the Compulsory Industry-wide Pension Fund Act provides that such companies have to place their pension assurances with such pension fund. Competition is not possible.
Hence, insurance companies carry out about 20% of the group pension plans as well as the major part of the personal pension provisions.
Third pillar: supplementary personal insurance arrangements (life annuity, pension etc.).
This tree-pillar system covers some four needs:
1 Old age needs
2 Death needs (= survivors provisions)
3 Disability needs
4 Unemployment needs
Below, we will concentrate on the following issues: old age, death and disability within the first two pillars.
1. Old Age
1.1 First pillar:
General Old Age Pension Act (AOW)
The AOW is a basic provision for all inhabitants
(approximately 12,000 euro per year for a couple over 65) providing
the necessary benefit for the cost of living, when income is no
longer generated by labour. Anybody having accrued enough AOW does
not have to appeal to social security, because the AOW guarantees a
benefit at a minimum level. The benefit may be supplemented by a
pension provision generated through an employer-employee
relationship.
The AOW has existed since 1957 and it is called a national
insurance because any person staying in the Netherlands is an
insured in this respect, provided he/she pays a compulsory premium
rate over the wages.
The AOW is funded by means of a pay-as-you-go-system: all people insured under 65 pay a premium for the cost of the current AOW benefits for people over 65. So, people under 65 do not save for their own old age, they pay for people who have already reached the age of 65.
The AOW is an accrual system: 2% is accrued per annum. In this way one may accrue a full pension in 50 years (from 15 to 65). Anybody not having met 50 years, for instance because of living abroad, is cut back by 2% per annum. For that matter, one may take out an insurance voluntarily for the years abroad.
Old age pension benefits are based on the net minimum wages. A single person receives 70% of the net minimum wages per month. For couples, this is 2 x 50% = 100% of the net minimum wages a month. For spouses/partners under 65, an eligible old age pensioner may be entitled to a temporary allowance, but the partner's income affects the level of the benefit. Eligible persons for the AOW who will be 65 after 2015 and who have a younger partner, will no longer be entitled to an AOW extra allowance.
1.2 Second pillar:
Retirement pension for employed persons
Retirement pension provides a benefit for employees and former employees at a certain (old) age. New legislation introduced in the Netherlands in 1999 does no longer mention a minimum age; employers and employees may together decide on a target retirement date. Such date should be mentioned in a pension letter or pension plan.
In the period between 1 September 1995 and the introduction of this new pension legislation on 1 July 1999, a retirement age of 55 was accepted. The final age is 70. The Dutch Civil Code provides that no distinction may be made between men and women when it concerns terms of employment and the termination of a labour contract.
The Wages and Salaries Tax Act provides that rights on account of pension plans are no income component, the pension benefits are. Amounts reduced from the employee's income as a contribution to the pension plan are no salary, later pension benefits generated by the employee's contribution are subject to taxation on the other hand.
Bridging pension
Bridging pension is a scheme to supplement retirement pension in connection with the lack of AOW benefits in the period before age 65 and the difference in premiums due for National Insurance AOW before and after age 65. Bridging pension starts at the same time as the retirement pension and ends not later than age 65.
Pre-Pension plan
Pre-pension takes effect before the retirement date agreed upon in the pension plan. Pre-pension should end before the age of 65. It has been decided that there will no longer be tax deductibility for pre-pension premiums from 2006 and it is uncertain what future possibilities there will be.
2.1 First pillar:
General Survivors Act (ANW)
Like the AOW, the ANW is a National Insurance. The act provides a right to survivors' benefit for men and women whose spouse or partner has died. It provides a right to a benefit for children as well. The ANW is funded by premiums, which is paid by all those insured, irrespective of age.
Certain conditions must be met. The amount of the benefit is subject to the survivor's income. The ANW is a risk insurance, it does not accrue like the AOW. The amount of the benefit may be affected by similar benefits received from countries other than the Netherlands.
Who has a right to survivors' benefit?
- Survivors with unmarried children under 18. If a woman is pregnant on the day of her partner's death, she is entitled to an ANW benefit as well
- Disabled survivors (at least 45% and during at least 3 months)
- Survivors born before 01-01-1950.
The survivors' benefit ends when:
- a survivor turns 65
- the survivor gets married or starts a shared household
- the (youngest) child turns 18 or is belonging to another household
- the survivor is no longer disabled
- the survivors� income reaches the level of 2.321,18 euro per year.
In addition to survivors' benefit, the ANW may also grant a right to semi-orphans' benefit. A right to this benefit exists when a semi-orphans' parent or carer takes the child in his household. A semi-orphan is a child under 18 with only one parent, the other having died.
The ANW grants orphans' benefits as well. This right exists for under-16s who�s both parents have died. The right to orphans' benefit ends when the child is adopted, acknowledged or legitimised.
Survivors' pension within the relation employer - employee
Survivors' pension provides for the partner of the (former) employee after the latter's death. Although a retirement pension (including bridging pension) and a disability pension also provides for a partner (and children), the partner (and the child) has no independent right to such retirement or disability pension. In the event of divorce, only the (former) employee has a right to a full retirement or disability pension. A (former) partner may have a right to a certain part of the former partner's pension right.
Survivors' bridging pension
This is a scheme to supplement survivors' or orphans' pension for the lack of an ANW benefit and the difference in premiums due for national insurances for pensions before and after age 65.
ANW-Gap assurance
The General Widow s' and Orphan s' Act (AWW) was replaced by the ANW in 1996, which resulted in a reduced benefit. The ANW gap is the amount that lacks because the conditions of an ANW benefit are not met. The lack of pension up to the moment the surviving partner is 65 is covered by an ANW benefit. Such an insurance is generally offered by employers as a group contract, but effected individually.
3. Disability
3.1 Fist pillar:
The WIA Act (Werk en Inkomen naar Arbeidsvermogen)
The Dutch Employment and Income in accordance with Capacity to Work Act guarantees an income replacement benefit to employees below age 65 who have been (partially) disabled for over two years. The WIA Act consists of two separate arrangements:
- WGA (Werkhervatting Gedeeltelijk Arbeidsgeschikten) or Resumption of Work for Partially Disabled Persons
- IVA (Inkomensvoorziening Volledig Arbeidsongeschikten) or Income Provision for Long-term,
Employers are held responsible for the continued payment and reintegration efforts of all sick employees during the first two years of sickness. After that, a short-term wage related WGA benefit is made available. The duration of this wage related benefit matches the duration of the governmental unemployment act (WW, Werkloosheidswet) and has a maximum duration of 3 years and 2 months.
If still sick after two years, the UWV (the governmental implementing body) will also determine the employee�s degree of disability. Those with a degree of disability below 35% do not qualify for a WIA benefit. Those above 35% and below 80% or those above 80% but not permanently disabled (recovery within 5 years), do qualify for a WGA benefit. In case an employee has a degree of disability higher than 80% and is diagnosed permanently disabled, he/she qualifies for the IVA benefit.
For all WIA benefits, a salary cap of 47,619.00 euro (index 2009) is in force. The part of the beneficiary's salary above the salary cap is not taken into account when determining the WGA or IVA benefit.
3.2 Second pillar:
Private insurance companies offer several WIA products for instance, WGA Gap, WGA Gap Plus and WIA Top hat scheme.
WGA Gap
Every employee entering WGA is either partially disabled or fully, but not permanently disabled. The UWV determines what level of income can possibly be earned by the partially disabled employee. This is referred to as the �income earning capacity�.
If a partially disabled employee earns 50% or more of this income earning capacity, he/she will be granted a WGA Income Supplement benefit by the UWV. This WGA benefit equals 70% of the difference between the full (maximised) salary and the salary in case of full use of the income earning capacity.
If a partially disabled employee earns less than 50% of this income earning capacity, he/she will not be granted a WGA Income Supplement benefit by the UWV, but will receive the WGA Continuation Benefit. The WGA Continuation benefit equals 70% of the social minimum wage times the degree of disability (70% x Minimum wage x Disability class percentage). This is a considerable drop of income for the employee.
So, in case of unsatisfactory use of the income earning capacity (less than 50%), the WGA Gap coverage, offered by Delta Lloyd, complements the WGA Continuation Benefit up to 70% of the (maximised) salary times the degree of disability.
This is a more extensive cover compared to the WGA Gap cover. The WGA Gap Plus cover complements the WGA Continuation Benefit and the WGA Income Supplement benefit provided by the UWV up to 70% of the (maximised) salary irrespective of the degree of disability. With this cover, employee�s are assured of a minimum income of 70% of their (maximised) salary even when no income is earned with labour.
Basically, this is the same coverage as the old WAO Supplemental Insurance (Top hat) offered by Delta Lloyd. What is new is that the Delta Lloyd WIA Top hat scheme consists of two benefits:
1 IVA benefit
2 WGA benefit
1. IVA Benefit
The social security IVA benefit is limited to the level of 75% of the maximised salary. The IVA benefit of the WIA Top hat scheme is either based on:
10% of the maximised salary (IVA Benefit below the salary cap) or
75 or 80% of one�s full salary minus the social security IVA benefit of 75% of the maximised salary (IVA Benefit above the salary cap).
2. WGA Benefit
The WGA Benefit also has a coverage for the salary below and above the salary cap. This is equal to the IVA Benefit described above. The most important difference however, is that with the WGA a degree of disability percentage is taken into account when determining the final benefit.
You may choose between two WGA benefits of the WIA Top hat scheme:
- WGA Benefit above the salary cap
- WGA Benefit below the salary cap
The insured amount of the WGA benefit above the salary cap is based on 70, 75 or 80% of one�s income minus 70% of the maximised salary.
This consequently results in a benefit by this coverage that is related to the actual degree of disability as shown below:
|
Degree of disability |
|
|
|
35 -45% |
40% |
of the insured amount |
|
45 -55% |
50% |
of the insured amount |
|
55 -65% |
60% |
of the insured amount |
|
65 -80% |
72.5% |
of the insured amount |
The insured amount of the WGA Benefit below the salary cap is based on 10% of the maximised salary. Depending on the degree of disability a benefit is granted in the same way as mentioned in the table above.
For someone, fully but not permanently disabled, the benefit equals 100% of the insured amount.
Level benefits or escalating benefits
Should you choose level benefits, the benefit is determined based on the amount insured at the inception of disability and will continue to be based on this. With escalating benefits, however, the benefit increases annually on January 1 with an agreed compound interest rate.
4. Types of pension plans for employees
Legislation since 1999 makes is possible to distinguish between three types of pension plans: final pay system, average pay system and defined contribution system. Basis is pension accrual in 35 years. 70% of the last earnings including AOW is generally considered an adequate pension benefit.
Pension commitments may be distinguished into:
- Salary / years of service scheme
- Defined contribution scheme
- Fixed amounts scheme
- Combination
Salary / years of service scheme final pay and average pay
Final pay system
The amount of the pension benefit is related to the years of service. Service means: the period from the commencement of the employment until the retirement date. The amount of the final pension is a percentage of the last pensionable
salary (this used to be 1.75% per service year for 40 years, hence 70%, but nowadays it is legally possible to accrue in 35 years, hence 2% p.a.).
As a result, increases in pensionable salary have their effect both upon past and future service years. For reasons of budgeting, the average pensionable salary over a period from 5 to 10 years prior to the retirement date usually defines the pension.
Advantage
The best possible pension accrual; when salaries continue to increase, the pension is based on the last earnings.
Dsadvantages
- In the event of a salary reduction, the pension is adjusted to the lower pensionable salary. Such decrease often refers to future years only, past years are guaranteed.
- When pensionable salaries change at later age, pension costs may become uncontrollable
- When employees leave the service, time proportional pension rights must be financed by employer; this concerns the total pension rights on the basis of the last earnings, less the pension rights relating to the period from resignation to retirement.
Average pay system
The level of the pension right is related to the pensionable salary and the length of the service. A certain percentage of the pensionable salary accrues annually to calculate pensions. As a result, increases in pensionable salary have their effect only upon future years of service. As there is no past service, old pension rights remain unchanged, except a possible adjustment on account of a general wage or price index. The maximum accrual percentage for an average pay system can therefore be slightly higher than for the final pay system, namely 2.25% p.a.
Average pay systems are generally less favourable for employees with sharply rising careers.
Advantages
- The cost of average pay systems can be well controlled as major salary rises affect future years only.
- Salary reductions later in careers have a smaller impact upon the eventual pension.
- When the employee leaves the service time proportional pension rights do not have to be funded.
Disadvantages
No full pension accrual, especially when salaries rise at later age. This may be offset somewhat by indexation of pension rights.
Defined contribution system
Starting point for the determination of the pension rights in this system is the available financial means. As s