Council of State criticises pension age increase as ‘too little too late’

The Council of State, the government’s main advisory body on new legislation, has criticised plans to increase the state pension age from 65 to 66 as being too little too late, the Financieele Dagblad reports.


The cabinet plans to increase the state pension age to 66 in 2020 followed by a further rise to 67 in 2025.
The council’s position and the draft legislation was sent to parliament on Tuesday.
Build-up
The plan also includes a shift in the pension rights build-up age. Currently you must have lived in the Netherlands for 50 years by the time you are 65 to claim a full state pension (AOW).
The build-up period will remain 50 years – the highest in Europe – but will run from 16 to 66. This means that even if you have lived and worked in the Netherlands for 40 years you are still only entitled to 80% of the state pension.
The second increase to 67 has still not been agreed on with unions and management, whose cooperation is seen as crucial to win acceptance for the age rise. In particular, the FNV trade union federation is divided on parallel reforms to the corporate pension system.

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