Supplementary pensions - keeping your rights when moving abroad

The legislation guarantees that people who move to another EU country to work will not lose the benefits they have already acquired in their existing company or occupational pension scheme.

ACT

Directive 2014/50/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on minimum requirements for enhancing worker mobility between Member States by improving the acquisition and preservation of supplementary pension rights.

SUMMARY

EU countries provide state pensions for their citizens when they retire. Since the early days of the EU, these basic rights have been respected when someone leaves one country to work or live in another.

For the increasing number of people who have an additional pension scheme linked to their employment, and later decide to work abroad, the situation was far less clear. Many could lose out on their future pension if they left the job before fulfilling conditions such as lengthy qualifying periods. These either penalised them or deterred them from moving.

The legislation ensures that anyone with supplementary pension rights does not lose out when they go to live or work in another EU country.

Protecting rights

The directive stipulates the following:

• Pension rights should be guaranteed after 3 years of employment at the latest. If a minimum age is required, it must not be higher than 21 years.
• The rights of workers who leave an employer-run pension scheme before retirement must be preserved and treated like those who remain in the scheme on matters such as indexation.

Information

Workers in a pension scheme can ask its administrators how stopping employment or moving would affect their supplementary pension rights and the conditions that would apply to the future treatment of those rights.

People who have left the scheme must be informed about the value and treatment of their rights.

Timetable

The provisions of the legislation must be in place by 21 May 2018. The Commission will draft a report on its implementation by 21 May 2020.

Last updated: 23.07.2014