Dutch pension fund Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW) has published its final bridging plan ahead of the transition to the new pension system, which will be effective until the new system is implemented.

Pension funds are required to submit bridging plans to De Nederlandsche Bank every year until they switch to the new system. The plans require pension funds to calculate and describe their financial situation for the period until they transition.

In the 2025 bridging plan, PFZW set out its financial situation until it switches to the new scheme and demonstrated that its estimated financial situation will be “good enough” on 1 January 2026 to transition to the new system responsibly.

“PFZW wants to convert the pensions to the new scheme on 1 January 2026. We are fully engaged in the preparation for this and are on course,” the fund stated.

The fund explained it was working towards a “smooth” transition. It noted that 2025 remained an "exciting year" as the financial position must be “good enough” to allow the switch to the new system.

It said many other factors determine whether PFZW can switch as of January 1.

In October 2022, January 2023, and January 2024, the fund was able to increase pensions by more than 13 per cent, but there was no room for an increase in 2025.

PFZW said that it expects to be able to increase pensions in 2026 if the fund switches to the new system as planned as it requires smaller financial buffers.

This means that PFZW can use some of this extra money from having smaller buffers to increase pensions. However, the actual amount will depend on the fund’s financial situation on 31 December 2025 and if things go badly, a reduction is also possible.

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