Agreement has been reached on retaining the early retirement scheme for people in physically taxing jobs after months of industrial action.

The new ruling, which still has to be approved by members of the FNV trade union, will allow people to stop work three years ahead of the official retirement age of 67 if their work is classified as “heavy”.

Employers will pay them a standard benefit in line with the state pension, with the option of increasing that by up to €300 a month.

The definition of “heavy” work and who will qualify will be worked out by unions and employers on a sector by sector basis.

However, the two sides have agreed to try to limit the number of people taking early retirement to some 15,000 a year in an effort to prevent a “culture of early retirement” developing.

The scheme will be evaluated every three years.

Current legislation on early retirement, which came into effect in 2019, is due to expire next year.

Early retirement used to be the norm in the Netherlands and most companies operated a scheme to allow staff to stop work early. In 2003, for example, 24% of people in the Netherlands retiring were below the age of 60, but that figure has now dropped to just 2%.

The average age at which people stop work has been increasing steadily since 2013 when the state pension age began increasing. Last year, 75% had reached the age of 65 but in 2013 43% were 65 or older and in 2003 just 14%. 

The Netherlands has some 3.3 million pensioners and they now account for almost one in five of the general population.