Pension

All Dutch employees involved in government or education are automatically signed up with ABP (pension fund for employees in the government, public and education sectors). This also applies to employees of Utrecht University.

As an employer, Utrecht University deducts your pension premium from your salary. ABP controls these premiums. The Dutch pension system consists of three pillars: the General Old Age Pensions Act, supplementary pension accrual via your employer and supplementary pension insurance.

General Old Age Pensions Act (AOW)

The AOW is the first pillar of the Dutch pension system. It constitutes a basic income to be able to get by with. Everyone living or working in the Netherlands automatically builds up AOW entitlement. As a result, during the time you will be working in the Netherlands, you will also be building up a pension entitlement. 

Pension accrual via your employer

The second pillar concerns the pension accrual via your employer. About 90% of Dutch employers offer a supplementary pension scheme providing retired employees with an additional pension entitlement on top of their AOW entitlement. Employers usually contribute two-thirds of the total pension premiums and employers one-third. The pension funds invest these premiums in order to be able to pay out the additional entitlement at a later stage.

Individual supplementary pension insurance

The third pillar refers to individual insurance, meaning any insurance you take out to supplement your statutory pension.

Read more about pensions

The ABP website offers more information about the various pension options.