7 hours Ago
A System in Transition
The Netherlands is currently in the middle of switching to a new national pension system, with all pension funds required to complete the transition by January 2028. More than half have already made the switch. The change matters enormously for workers in their forties and fifties. Under the old framework, younger employees paid higher contributions to support retirees, with the expectation that future generations would eventually do the same for them. The new system abandons that model, which means the middle-aged workers who spent years contributing extra for those above them will never see that benefit returned. To make this fair, employers and employees are supposed to agree on compensation before the fund transitions. Depending on salary and tenure, that figure can range from several thousand to tens of thousands of euros.
The catch is straightforward but painful: only active fund members at the time of transition qualify. Workers who are laid off become dormant members — their pension money stays in the fund, but they stop accruing, and they lose their right to compensation.
ING Employees Left Out
That is exactly the situation facing hundreds of ING workers this year. A bank spokesperson confirmed that the social plan negotiated with trade unions does not include a right to this pension compensation. ING said it would look into whether some arrangement might still be possible, though it remains unclear whether workers already let go would be included.
To put the numbers in concrete terms: a mid-level employee in her mid-forties, with more than ten years at ING and a substantial salary, stands to lose roughly €27,000 in her pension pot when she leaves on July 1, 2027. Lower-ranked colleagues face a shortfall of around €16,000. Over a retirement lifetime, that gap could translate to between €70 and €200 less per month in pension payouts.
Trade union De Unie says it has been fielding a flood of worried calls from ING staff. Negotiator Inge de Vries described the situation as an insult added to injury: workers already anxious about job loss are now finding out they may also be dismissed before their pension fund's transition date, cutting them off from compensation they rightfully earned.
This situation is not limited to ING. In recent months, ASML, ABN Amro, Tata Steel, Achmea, Philips, and Signify have all announced significant job cuts. Most of them have found a way to protect affected workers. ABN Amro, which is eliminating 5,200 full-time roles by 2028, is allowing laid-off employees to keep paying into the pension fund independently so they remain active members and retain their compensation rights. Tata Steel, Philips, and Signify made comparable arrangements. ASML is reportedly planning to time its first round of layoffs so they only begin after its pension fund has already completed the transition — sidestepping the problem entirely.
ING has yet to confirm a similar solution, leaving its departing employees in a position that is both financially significant and deeply frustrating.
