Social security and pension system

Social security

When you are employed by the University of Groningen you become a civil servant and you will be covered under the Dutch social security system. However, if you are simultaneously employed by another, (foreign) employer, HR Services has to be informed because it needs to be established if you should be excluded from the Dutch social security system.

General information about the Dutch social security system can be found on the website of the Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB).

Pension system

As of the date of your appointment you will be automatically registered as a participant in the Dutch pension system for civil servants, ABP. If you feel that you were erroneously registered or that the registration date is incorrect, please send a written request for further investigation to the ABP within 6 weeks after receiving confirmation of your registration.

If you have accrued pension rights in a previous position that do not dovetail with the pension scheme for civil servants, you may be faced with a loss of pension rights. According to the ABP regulations you have the right to transfer pension rights accrued elsewhere to your new pension scheme. In order to do this, you must submit a written request for an offer for value transfer to the ABP pension system within 6 months after the date of appointment. Whether or not your request will be honoured will (partly) depend on the coverage ratio of the pension fund concerned.

You will be deregistered from the ABP pension system as of the end date of your appointment. It is not possible to have accrued pension values paid out at the end of the appointment period.

For more information please consult the ABP website (in English). Here you can also find detailed information about transferring pension accruals from another country to the Netherlands and vice versa.