More Pension Choices: What Does Good Employership Require?

Publication date: 20 oktober 2026

The Dutch Future Pensions Act (Wet toekomst pensioenen, Wtp) not only shifts the focus towards pension contributions but also introduces more individual choices for employees. Examples include making personal investment choices, making voluntary additional pension contributions, or choosing not to make such additional contributions. For pension providers, the law contains a specific standard for choice guidance. But what about the employer's responsibility?

Pension decisions are rarely easy. This is acknowledged by the government. Article 48a of the Dutch Pensions Act requires pension providers to adequately support participants when making choices within the pension arrangement. Pension providers must create a decision-making environment that enables participants to make an informed and suitable choice. The Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) provides concrete guidance in its publication ("Leidraad Keuzebegeleiding"). Among other things, the guidance addresses the design of the decision environment, the presentation of available options and the role of the default option.

For personal choice options within the pension scheme itself, the primary responsibility for choice guidance lies at the pension provider. For example, consider an employee who wishes to make their own investment choices. However, matters become less clear when the decision extends beyond the pension arrangement and forms part of the rewards package. For choices at the intersection of pensions and other employment benefits, there is currently no detailed statutory framework comparable to the rules that apply to pension providers. An example would be a choice between additional pension contributions and additional salary. While a pension provider may be able to explain the pension consequences of extra contributions, the employer decides whether such a choice is offered and how it is incorporated into the rewards package.

Employers are not expected to provide the same level of choice guidance as pension providers. Nor is it generally the employer's role to influence how employees spend their salary. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the way an employer presents employment-related choices is irrelevant. A careful decision-making process requires clear communication at the moments when employees are expected to make choices, understandable and practical examples, and, where possible, the use of supporting tools, such as those provided by the pension provider. When offering employees freedom of choice at the intersection of pensions and other employment benefits, attention should therefore not only be paid to the choice itself, but also to how employees are supported in making that choice.