Retiring before or after 1 January 2027? Here’s what you need to know.

What will change in SSPF.

Your accrued pension is expected to be converted into a personal pension pot from 1 January 2027. This pot will move in line with investment performance. If the investments perform well, your pension pot can increase. When they do less well, it can decrease. Later, you’ll use your pot to purchase a pension benefit. This means the exact monthly amount you’ll receive at retirement is no longer fixed in advance.

Retiring? In 2027 you will choose between a fixed or variable pension.

Under the new pension rules, everyone in the Netherlands will receive a new pension. Your new SSPF scheme is expected to start on 1 January 2027. Are you retiring before that date or are you already retired? Then you will make your choice after the new scheme begins: do you prefer a fixed or a variable pension? You’ll make this decision in spring 2027, even if you’re already retired. If you choose a variable pension, your pension will continue to be invested after your retirement date. From July 2027, your current fixed benefit will be converted into a variable benefit. This amount may change slightly from year to year because it moves in line with investment performance. But to limit fluctuations, the annual investment results are spread. Prefer to keep a fixed pension? That’s possible. In that case, you will no longer receive your pension from SSPF. Instead, you will purchase a fixed benefit from an external insurer.

Variable-decreasing instead of high-low pension.

If you retire before 1 January 2027, you can choose to start with either a higher or a lower pension amount. Want to begin with a higher amount? Then you choose the high-low option: you’ll receive a higher amount for up to ten years, after which it becomes lower. Prefer to start with a lower amount? Then you choose low-high. If you’re already retired, your previous choices will remain in place if you later select a variable pension. If you choose a fixed pension, you’ll purchase a fixed benefit from an external insurer. The options available depend on their conditions.

If you retire on or after 1 January 2027 and select a variable pension, you’ll receive a variable benefit. You can also choose a variable benefit that, in addition to the annual adjustment, increases or decreases each year by a fixed percentage. This is called ‘variable-increasing’ or ‘variable-decreasing’. You don’t set this percentage yourself; the Board determines it. The new scheme no longer offers high-low or low-high pensions. The ‘variable-increasing’ and ‘variable-decreasing’ options will replace these choices.

In the video below, we explain the difference between a high‑low pension and a variable decreasing pension.  

VIDEO - SSPF: Will you still be able to choose a temporarily higher pension in the future?

If you’re still employed, you can choose how much extra we contribute.

Currently, you and Shell both contribute to your pension. You pay 2% of your salary, and Shell pays the rest. With these contributions, you accrue pension each year based on your salary for that year. This gives you a fixed pension based on your average salary at Shell. This will change. Your pension will no longer be a fixed guaranteed amount. Instead, you will have a personal pension pot. Shell will contribute 21%, and you will continue to contribute as well. In the new scheme, you can also make extra contributions. Your own contribution consists of a mandatory 2% and an optional 5% that you can adjust yourself. Because of this change, the pension you accrue may be lower than it is today. That is why you will receive compensation. This compensation will be paid for ten years and added to your pension pot while you work at Shell. Are you retiring before the new scheme starts? In that case, you will not receive compensation, but you will receive a share of the buffer.

Retiring before 1 January 2027? Your share of the buffer may be lower.

The pension fund currently has a buffer, which is a financial reserve for unexpected situations. In the new scheme, such a large buffer will no longer be needed. Part of the buffer must be kept in reserve, and part will be used to create a risk-sharing reserve and a compensation reserve. What remains will be distributed among all participants on 1 January 2027. Your share will be added to your personal pension pot. The amount you receive depends on your personal situation and the fund’s financial position.

If you retire before 1 January 2027 and make choices that advance your pension, such as retiring early, choosing a high-low pension or an AOW bridge, this will reduce the share of the buffer allocated to you. If you choose to advance your pension, the amount you receive from the buffer will be lower. As a guideline, you can assume that the buffer can be about 1% lower for each year you retire before the age of 68.

At this moment, the exact amount you will receive is not yet known and will only become clear shortly before the transition. In general, the earlier you retire or the more you advance your pension, the greater the difference may be. If you stop working at Shell before 1 January 2027 but postpone your pension until after that date, you have not made choices that influence your buffer share. If you later decide to advance your pension after the transition, this will no longer affect the buffer distribution because the buffer will already have been allocated.

What happens to the pension for your partner and children?

We understand that you may have questions about this Rest assured: everything you have accrued up to 1 January 2027 will remain intact. Want to know what will change? You can read more in this article.