Dutch pension providers are paying significant attention to survivor’s pensions, but there is still room for improvement on the provision of information, according to the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM).

Providers were urged to be active and prompt in informing members about their survivor’s pension, with moments where participants need to take action being clearly indicated.

They were also told to ensure communications are personal, understandable, and action-oriented so members and surviving dependents know the consequences of their decisions and members can respond in a timely manner.

The AFM’s research showed that numerous pension providers offered personal support to surviving relatives following a member death, with the authority considering examples of this to be positive.

However, some providers were observed asking surviving partners for information about beneficiaries, despite them not being responsible for doing so, which the AFM considered bad practice.

The AFM noted that there were several situations in which members were not covered for survivor's pension upon death, without being aware of it.

Pension providers were told to prevent this as much as possible by communicating clearly and promptly about situations where coverage is lacking or ends.

“Participants and surviving dependents must know what risks exist, when coverage expires, and what choices they have, so that they can take measures and hardship situations are prevented,” the AFM stated.

The Dutch Federation of Pension Funds added: “Pension providers inform participants about the amount of the survivor's pension, but according to the AFM, this information sometimes deserves a more prominent place.

“The AFM calls on pension providers to clearly display the most important data in the first layer of information, so that participants do not have to search for what their partner and children can expect.

“In addition, pension providers must better tailor their communication to the personal situation of participants and surviving dependents.

“They must also explicitly indicate when participants need to take action, for example to register a partner or to choose whether they wish to continue coverage upon leaving employment.”

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