Your pension scheme 2022 in a nutshell

For both young and old

The pension fund is an independent foundation that promotes the interests of all employees, former employees and pensioners in an equal and balanced manner. This is the task of the management. The regulators De Nederlandsche Bank and the Autoriteit Financiële Markten ensure that this is carried out properly. No one receives special treatment. The interests of both young and old are represented equally well.

Your pension is being protected

• At this very moment, the pension fund must take into account the pensions to be paid in the future. All pension agreements are included in our balance, including those of younger colleagues. This capital must therefore already be available. You do not have to be afraid that you will not receive a pension when you retire, no matter what age you are.
• Each month, the employees pay a contribution. The pension fund invests these contributions and premiums according to a carefully drafted policy. It is constantly being monitored to ensure that there is sufficient capital to pay everyone’s pension. The funding level is one such monitoring devices. A funding level of 100% means that there is exactly enough money to pay the pension agreed with you and your former and present colleagues. There is no way that ‘the funds have dried up’ by the time your pension is to be paid. On the contrary, the pension fund protects the pension to which everyone is entitled.

The total premium for your pension accrual is 24% of your fixed gross salary plus 8% holiday allowance exceeding €14,802. Wolters Kluwer Nederland pays 2/3 (16%) of this premium. You pay the remaining 8%. Based on this premium, you accrue an annual 1.58% of the amount over and above €14,802 in pension with a planned retirement age of 68 years. These percentages and amounts apply to 2022.
Due to the historically low interest rates at the end of 2021, the pension premium of 24% proved to be unsufficient to achieve a pension accrual that was acceptable to the social partners. Wolters Kluwer therefore agreed to a one-year increase in the pension premium to 28%, so an accrual rate of 1.58% could be determined for 2022. The additional 4% will be paid in full by Wolters Kluwer Netherlands in 2022.
For the year 2023 and beyond, the social partners will take a new decision on the premium, which may be 24%. Based on the interest rate at the end of 2021, the accrual rate at a premium of 24% in 2023 will be significantly lower than the 1.58% set for 2022.

Retrospective award of partner's and orphan's pension

As a result of the reduction in the accrual percentage in 2022 from 1.875% to 1.58%, the partner’s and orphan's pension for active participants will also be lower. Social partners considered this undesirable and therefore agreed to award this pension amount as much as possible retrospectively. Therefore, in the event of the death of active members during employment, the future pension accrual (from the date of death until the age of 68) for the determination of the partner's and orphans’ pension to be paid will be based on an accrual percentage of 1.875% instead of 1.58%. In this way, a reduction of the partner's and orphan's pension in the event of prior death is limited as much as possible. 

What do you pay for?

• Retirement pension for yourself
• Partner’s pension and orphans´ pension after your death
• Partial or full waiver of premium payment upon disability

Each year, you accumulate more capital for your final pension benefit. The pension plan is an average wage plan, which is to say that the annual accrual is linked to the fixed salary plus 8% of holiday allowance you earn in that year. Your final pension will therefore reflect the capital you have earned on average over the years you have participated in the pension plan. The more you earn, the more pension you accrue. You accumulate pension capital up to an annual salary of €114,866 (amount for 2022).

The big pension question is: will you have sufficient when you retire? That is a question only you can answer, for it partly depends on your expenditure and partly on your total (family) income upon retirement. To clarify this question, there is a tool available, called ‘Pensioenschijf-van-vijf’. You can translate this webpage into English. You can also find more information on this issue on www.Mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl.

If you are married or registered as a partner, your pension is also linked to your partner. Your partner will receive life-long pension upon your death. The same applies if you have a partner with whom you live together and have signed a cohabitation contract with. In that case, you do need to send a copy of the cohabitation contract to the pension fund to register your partner. Also, upon termination of the relationship with your married or registered partner, part of the pension you have accrued will be for your ex-partner. This is regulated by law, unless you decide to agree otherwise. You can find more information on this issue on the pension fund’s website www.pensioen-wk.nl.

You have a number of choices to make as you approach the retirement date.

• You personally set the exact age when you retire. It is also possible to semiretire and continue to work part-time.
• In addition, you may have to choose whether you do or do not want to provide cover for your partner to be paid after your death and, if you want cover, what the ratio should be with regard to your accrued retirement pension.
• Finally, you may want to vary the amount of pension benefit you receive throughout the years, for instance a higher amount during the first 5 to 10 years, followed by a lower pension, or vice versa.
  You can calculate and compare the various options yourself by using a handy calculation module available on the pension fund’s website. You can find it  here (in Dutch only).