HBO negotiators make the application of the senior scheme specific
The negotiators of the AOb Together with employers in higher professional education, the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences, we have drawn up concrete examples for the application of the senior scheme and its expansion.
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In last collective bargaining agreement the unions and employers agreed to expand the seniors scheme - subject to conditions. This means that higher professional education employees will be given the opportunity - in addition to the basic scheme that was already in place - to take additional unpaid senior leave. The pension accrual remains the same. “Many people don't know exactly how it works,” says AOb-director of higher professional education Douwe van der Zweep. “That is why we have made an additional agreement about this so that it is clear to people how you can use the arrangements.”
Basic scheme
How does it work? First of all, there is the basic scheme that allows older colleagues to work less if they are ten years before their state pension age. In the collective labor agreement this scheme is called: 'reduction of working hours for seniors (ws scheme)'. This collective labor agreement gives employees the option to work 20 percent less for a period of up to five years. For a full-time job, this means one day less per week. Colleagues who use this scheme still build up a full pension.
Colleagues who use the scheme still build up a full pension
Contribution
Using the senior scheme is not completely free. HBO employees are no longer entitled to the extra annual 45 hours for sustainable employability 'Tue hours' and they pay a personal contribution. The amount of the contribution depends on the age and salary of the employee. Colleagues in salary scales 1 to 7 pay a lower personal contribution than colleagues in higher salary scales. “It is approximately between 4 and 9 percent salary,” says the AOb-Director. “Every month, the college calculates the personal contribution associated with the reduction in working hours and deducts this from the gross salary. It has no consequences for holiday pay, end-of-year benefits and pension accrual.”
Employees accrue leave over the reduced number of hours they work. “But because you work less, you also need less leave to be free. So you can still go on holiday as often as before. One condition is that it is not permitted to use the freed up time to do new paid work.”
Because you work less, you also need less leave to be free. So you can still go on holiday as often
After five years, at least 20 percent of employees leave employment. Van der Zweep: “You decide for the remaining years you still have to work whether you want your pension to commence in full or in part. Taking the ABP pension is separate from this scheme.” Are you getting sick? Then the salary in the first year of illness is the same as if you had continued to work using the scheme. For the second year of illness, it does not matter whether you use the senior scheme or not. “You will then receive 70 percent of the old salary,” says the AOb-driver.
Extension: extra unpaid hours off
In addition to this basic scheme, it has been possible to take additional senior leave since the last collective labor agreement. With this scheme you can reduce your working hours by 20 percent for another five years, but unlike the basic scheme, this scheme is unpaid. “You do not receive a salary for the hours you do not work,” Van der Zweep explains. “The pension accrual remains based on your old salary. So it is much more favorable than, for example, working part-time.”
It is much more beneficial than working part-time
HBO staff can use this additional arrangement to work fewer hours simultaneously, before, after or separately from the basic arrangement. The only condition is that employees remain employable at their university for at least 0,4 FTE. Employees will also leave employment for the hours they have taken for reduction of working hours at the end of the scheme.
Four examples of how you can use the senior schemes:
The sooner employees use senior leave before their state pension age, the more personal contribution they pay per month. This concerns a personal contribution of 45 percent between ten and five years for the state pension age and 25 percent between five and zero years for the state pension age. Conversely, employees receive 55 percent or 75 percent gross salary for the hours they work less. Employees in lower salary scales pay less personal contribution: 35 percent between ten and five years and 20 percent if they are five to zero years before the state pension age.
Example 1: Full-time employee starts working three days a week
Jan Karel (64 years old) has a full-time job, but wants to have more time for his hobbies and grandchildren. He wants to make as much use of both senior schemes as possible and decides to work 3 days a week (0,6 FTE). He will receive 0,2 percent salary for the first day (75 FTE) that he works less. His own contribution is therefore 25 percent because he is 0-5 years before the state pension age. He will not receive any wages for the second day he works less (the unpaid extension of the senior scheme). However, the higher professional education teacher does build up a pension for his entire full-time job (1 FTE). At the end of the five years, he will leave employment for two days, because he has used the scheme for 0,4 FTE.
Example 2: Full-time teacher who uses both senior schemes one after the other
Jan (57 years old) works full-time and is a teacher in salary scale 12. He can then use the basic scheme for five years, working 62 FTE until the age of 0,8. So he will work one day less. For 0,2 FTE - this is the one day he started working less - Jan receives 55 percent salary (his own contribution is 45 percent because he is 10-5 years before the state pension age). Jan builds up a pension for 1 FTE, his entire job. When the teacher turns 62, he can choose to work one day less with the extension of the senior scheme. He then works 0,6 FTE and is paid wages for these hours. He does, however, accrue pension on 0,8 FTE, because at the age of 62 he was employed for that number of hours. Because he uses the first scheme, the employment contract for 0,2 FTE ends after five years.
Example 3: Part-timer (3 days a week) who uses both the senior schemes one after the other
Rudie (61 years old) has an employment contract of 0,6 FTE. Rudie can then use the first scheme for five years, working 66 FTE until the age of 0,48. For 0,12 FTE (20 percent of 0,6 FTE), Rudie receives 55 percent salary for one year for the day he works less and from 5 years before his retirement, 75 percent of his salary. This employee accrues pension on 0,6 FTE until he reaches the age of 66. He then builds up a pension over 0,48 FTE, because after five years you leave employment for the number of reduced hours. Rudie can only use the second scheme for 0,08 FTE because he must meet the requirement that he remains employable for at least 0,4 FTE.
Example 4: Part-timer (4 days a week) who uses the senior schemes at the same time
Caroline (60 years old) has an employment contract of 0,8 FTE. She can then use the first scheme for five years, whereby she works 65 FTE until the age of 0,64 and for 0,16 FTE (20 percent reduction in working hours of 0,8 FTE), Caroline receives 55 percent salary for the time she has worked less. . Suppose Caroline then decides to use the second scheme (the extension) at the age of 62:
- She will receive a salary for 62 FTE up to the age of 0,64. Caroline receives 0,16 percent salary for 55 FTE (personal contribution is 45 percent in the period between 10 and 5 years before the state pension age). She accrues pension for 0,8 FTE
- From the age of 62 to 65, Caroline receives a salary of 0,48 FTE. Caroline receives 0,16 percent salary for 75 FTE (the personal contribution is 25 percent in the period of 0 and 5 years before the state pension age). She accrues pension on 0,8 FTE
-From the age of 65 to the age of 67, Caroline receives a salary for 0,48 FTE and builds up a pension for 0,64 FTE, because she will leave employment after five years for the hours she has worked less due to the basic scheme.
