What will change for me? If you receive a retirement pension while you are younger than 65 years of age, a number of things may change from the moment you turn 65. Transitional pension and under-65 allowance
Because you receive AOW from the age of 65, the transitional pension is no longer payable from that moment. The under-65 allowance will also be discontinued, as you are no longer required to pay any AOW contribution from the age of 65. So if you receive these pension elements, payment will be discontinued when you turn 65. Your lifelong pension does not change when you reach the age of 65. Temporary BPFK pension
If you have worked for Shell Tankers and receive a temporary pension from the Bedrijfspensioenfonds voor de Koopvaardij (BPFK) (occupational pension fund for the merchant shipping industry), this will be deducted from your Shell pension. The temporary pension from BPFK is discontinued when you turn 65, as is the deduction. WAO or WIA benefit
If you are eligible for a WAO or WIA benefit, this benefit is discontinued when you turn 65, and is no longer deducted from your pension. If you receive a disability pension, this is converted into a retirement pension when you turn 65. AOW benefit
You are eligible to receive AOW benefit, the State retirement pension, from the age of 65. For every year that you were insured, you will have accrued 2% of the AOW benefit. You will be entitled to a full AOW benefit if you were covered by this national insurance scheme from the age of 15 to the age of 65. You are insured for as long as you are resident in the Netherlands. In most cases, you are not insured during any periods of residence outside the Netherlands. If you have a partner, both you and your partner each receive 50% of the AOW benefit for married persons from the age of 65. |
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If you have a younger partner, you may be eligible for a supplement to your AOW benefit until your partner himself/herself turns 65. The level of this supplement depends, among other things, on your partner’s income. The scheme under which this supplement is granted will be discontinued as of 1st January 2015: if you were born in or after 1950, you no longer receive a supplement for a younger partner when you turn 65. Your partner receives his/her own WAO benefit on turning 65. The Social Insurance Bank (Sociale Verzekeringsbank, SVB) is responsible for AOW benefit payments. See: 'useful links'. Compensation for uninsured years
If you worked abroad for Shell before 1st January 2006, you may be eligible for ‘compensation for uninsured years’. This compensation is paid together with your pension from the age of 65. What should I do?
You apply for your AOW benefit in good time before your 65th birthday. You yourself are also required to apply for any foreign state pension that enters into effect at age 65, before that date. This is also applicable to your partner. You will receive a letter from the Pension Fund in due time, explaining what you are required to do. If you have accrued any other pension entitlements that will enter into effect when you turn 65, you must remember to apply for these yourself in good time. I do not know whether I have any other pension entitlement If you no longer know whether you have accrued any other pension entitlements with a previous employer in The Netherlands, you can contact the 'Infodesk' of De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB. The 'Infodesk brochure' is a Dutch only folder from DNB containing (amongst others) information about this subject. Also the Dutch-only website of the Dutch Association of Industry-wide Pension Funds (Vereniging Van Bedrijfstakpensioenfondsen, VB), contains a step-by-step plan under the ‘Duidelijk pensioen’ part of the site, the for tracing ‘forgotten pensions’. (Links to both sites can be found under: 'useful links' ). |