Increasing or decreasing of pensions

We can only increase your pension if our financial situation is favourable. Each year we decide if and to what extent it is possible to increase your pension. Over the past few years we have not been able to increase your pension each year.

APF Pension Fund endeavours to increase the value of your pension every year

An increase is only possible if our financial situation is satisfactory enough. Every year we decide whether we can increase your pension and by how much. We attempt to keep your pension in line with prices.

A bridging plan is in place

APF Pension Fund expects to transition to the new pension system on 1 January 2026. There are currently new legislative rules regarding increasing and decreasing pensions. The adjusted legislative rules referred to above relate to potential increases and decreases to accrued pensions and payable pensions until the transition to the new pension rules.

To be able to utilise the new rules, we had to submit a bridging plan to De Nederlandsche Bank. In this plan, we describe how we expect the fund’s financial situation to develop in the period leading up to the transition and what this will mean for participants. The bridging plan describes when we will be able to increase pensions earlier in the one-and-a-half years leading up to 1 January 2026, but also when we will need to decrease pensions.

Bridging plan (pdf)

Increase of pensions as of 1 January 2024

On 1 January 2024, we increased your pension by 0.12%. This is 0.04% point higher than in the standard indexation policy. Part of this increase (0.04% points) was made possible due to a temporary legislative measure. We are allowed to increase pensions at a lower policy funding ratio of at least 105%. That would normally be 110%. Prices rose by 0.21% between September 2022 and September 2023. APF Pension Fund carefully examined the effects for different age groups.

Effects for different age groups (pdf)

Questions and answers on pension increases as of 1 Januari 2024
  1. Why is the inflation rate so low?

    The measured inflation rate is low because of the unusual circumstances when energy prices were measured last year. Energy prices rose very quickly and this increase was also immediately reflected in the price index. Since a lot of people still had energy contracts with lower prices, they did not immediately feel it in their pockets. This meant that the price index was actually too high. At present, CBS takes the actual contracts consumers have as the basis for measuring inflation. In the meantime, energy prices have once again dropped significantly compared to last year. Although other prices have increased, this nevertheless results in a low price index compared to a year ago.

  2. How did the indexation rate of 0.12% come about?

    • APF Pension Fund uses an external measure for indexation. This is the development of the consumer price index for the month of September, as published by Statistics Netherlands (CBS). This measure was 0.20% in September 2023.
    • APF Pension Fund had a buffer of about 18.9% at the end of September that could be factored in for supplementation. According to the legislation, we are permitted to supplement a portion of the benchmark level with this buffer: 0.08%.
    • Since the social partners have the intention of transitioning to the new pension system, more indexation is permitted. APF Pension Fund agreed on a relaxed policy for this in 2022 and applied it from 1 January 2023. We have now applied the more relaxed rules for the current situation in the same manner. This also allows us to supplement a slightly larger portion of the benchmark level as of 1 January 2024: 0.12% instead of 0.08%.
  3. Does APF Pension Fund also take into account the transition to the new pensioen system in this indexation?

    APF Pension Fund adheres to the current statutory rules on indexation. At the same time, APF Pension Fund is also preparing for the transition to the new pension system. The legally required buffers will be significantly lower under the new system. We are aiming for a smooth transition, and in doing so are also examining - together with employers and trade unions - the common goals involved in this transition.

    On the one hand, the legislature has already granted more options within the rules on supplementation and we are taking advantage of this. On the other hand, APF Pension Fund also wants to have enough reserves left over to achieve the common goals in the transition as much as possible. Research into a ‘bridging plan’ is underway, and we will be announcing more on this in the run-up to the transition to the new pension system.

  4. Will the increased indexation also affect the transition to the new pension system?

    The legislature has indicated that when assessing how balanced the transition to the new scheme is, a pension fund must also take into account the effects of the increased supplements on various generations during the period leading up to the transition.

    In the APF Pension Fund situation thus far, this has involved increased supplements of 2.70% as of 1 August 2022, 2.77% as of 1 January 2023 and now 0.04% as of 1 January 2024. The generational effects of all the increased supplements will be taken into account in due course by APF Pension Fund in its assessment (see also the post on generational effects on the website).

Increase of pensions as of 1 January 2023

On 1 January 2023, we increased your pension by 8.73% using the temporary legislative measure. This was 2.77% points higher than in the standard indexation policy. APF Pension Fund carefully examined the effects for different age groups.

Effects for different age groups (pdf)

Increase of pensions as of 1 January 2022

On 1 August 2022, we increased your pension by 2.70% using the temporary legislative measure, while no indexation had yet been possible on 1 January 2022 On 1 August 2022, adjusted (temporary) legislative rules allowed us to increase pensions by 2.7% over 2021. APF Pension Fund carefully examined the effects for different age groups.

Effects for different age groups (pdf)

Over the past 5 years we have increased the pensions as follows

You also see if the increase of your pension compensated for the increase in prices.

Date of change Value of your pension increase Price increase*
1 January 2024 0.12%***   0.21%
1 January 2023 8.73%*** 14.53%
1 August 2022 2.70%**  2.70%
1 January 2021 0.00%  1.11%
1 January 2020 0.00%  2.65%

*The increase in prices in the period from September of the year prior to the year in which the indexation has been granted compared with the increase in prices in September of the previous year. The indexation decision as of 1 January, 2020 is still based on the goal to increase your accrued pension in line with the increase in salaries.

**This entire increase was made possible due to the temporary legislative measure. We were allowed to increase pensions at a lower policy funding ratio of at least 105%. That would normally be 110%. The effective date for the increase was 7 months later than usual, due to the temporary measure not taking effect until 1 July 2022.

***Part of this increase was made possible due to the temporary legislative measure.

In difficult times we can lower the pensions

It is not certain that we can increase your pension in the next few years. If our financial situation is not good enough, we may have to lower your pension. But we only do this if we have no other options. We have not lowered the pensions in the past few years. Obviously, the board tries hard to prevent this from happening, but we cannot rule it out.

Do you participate in the DC scheme?

You have a salary that is higher than the accrual limit amount in the career average salary pension scheme. You participate in the defined contribution scheme  on wages above the accrual limit amount up to a maximum of € 137,800 gross per year (2024).

Can you buy the same amount in the future with your accrued capital? We cannot answer that question. We do not yet know how high your pension will be that you can buy with your accrued capital. How much pension you receive mainly depends on:

  • how much pension premium has been paid.
  • how much capital there is after investing the pension premiums.
  • what investment return is achieved.
  • how much pension you can buy with that capital.

If you no longer participate in the defined contribution scheme or if you already receive a pension, the pension fund tries to increase the pension purchased from the capital every year with the prices. You can read more about this at financial situation.

Financial situation

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