The average score for how pension funds deal with complaints has risen to 89 per cent, up from 91 per cent in 2023, according to research by the Dutch Federation of Pension Funds.

This score is qualified as 'good' and lies above the standard of 84 per cent set by the Dutch Federation of Pension Funds and its members.

The research also found, that on average, pension funds scored 73 per cent on maturity, an increase from 67 per cent in 2023.

According to the results, of the 131 participating funds, eight scored below the standard of 84 per cent, while 35 funds (27 per cent) scored below the maturity standard of 70 per cent.

In addition to this, 52 funds (40 per cent) were awarded a ‘learning’ rating,  42 funds (32 per cent) were awarded a ‘customer sensitive’ rating, and 10 funds (8 per cent) received a ‘responsive’ rating.

It also revealed that occupational pension funds, on average, perform slightly lower than other types of funds, while non-mandatory industry pension funds tend to score slightly higher.

Commenting on the results, Dutch Federation of Pension Funds chairman, Ger Jaarsma, said: "Complaint management is increasingly becoming part of the DNA of pension funds. It's great that this upward trend continues, but we are not there yet.

"For the coming year, we are working on an approach to help pension funds further in their improvements, where possible. We can't rest on our laurels.

“Crowds are no excuse either. It is very important that complaint management at pension funds is permanently on the agenda, even in the sometimes-hectic times of the Future Pensions Act (WTP) transition.”

The Dutch Federation of Pension Funds attributed these results to the “continuous efforts of pension funds”, noting that previous results have shown they have achieved a high standard in complaint management.

However, it acknowledged that there are still additional improvements to be made in this area.

"Pensioners and working people are therefore assured of the right attention for their complaint with every pension fund. The pension funds themselves also benefit from this, because complaints offer an opportunity to learn and further improve their internal processes,” Jaarsma said.

Jaarsma added that in the coming year, the Dutch Federation of Pension Funds will focus on supporting pension funds with room for improvement and on developing an approach to ensure that the quality of complaint management is explicitly guaranteed at all pension funds.

The performance in the field of complaints management is monitored and the assessments are carried out by the Golden Ear Foundation.

Of the 143 invited pension funds, 131 completed the request, one of which was awarded after the deadline, while nine pension funds were in liquidation and therefore did not participate, and three pension funds did not respond.

In addition to this, in-depth assessments were carried out with 10 pension funds and reviews were held with three pension funds that already underwent an assessment in 2023.

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