The Accountability Council (AC) is tasked with evaluating the actions of the Board and providing advice on a number of key areas. The Council is made up of eight members.

Composition as of May 2021

AC’s evaluation for 2020

The AC notes that the recommendations for 2019 and the key issues for 2020, as identified in the AC report for 2019, have been implemented to a significant extent. The various issues that have not been addressed or realized yet have been also included in the recommendations for 2020.

Summary evaluation

In the AC’s opinion, the policy adopted by the Board and the decisions taken by the Board in 2020 were in the interests of deferred members and pensioners. In taking decisions, the Board acted in a balanced way and considered the interests of all stakeholders in its decision-making. The Board also effectively incorporated the AC’s formal and informal advice and recommendations.

Recommendations for 2020

The AC has identified room for improvement in several areas:

• Evaluate the current management model to determine the best positioning and governance structure for the future.
• Make the benchmarking of pension administration organization, DPS, a part of the phase II robustness testing in 2021.
• Amend the various regulations based on current practice, taking into account the outcomes of evaluations by the fund’s fora. Incorporate changes proposed by the VO in the VO regulations.
• Incorporate focus points proposed by the VO in the new communication policy.

2021 priorities

The most important priorities on which the VO aims to focus in 2021 are:

• Monitoring developments relating to the introduction of the new Future Pensions Act (Wet toekomst pensioenen [pensioenakkoord]) and developing the VO’s role in this context.
• Monitoring the Board’s follow-up relating to the outcomes of part two of the robustness testing.
• Monitoring the developments in the Board’s actions relating to the fund’s future positioning and governance structure.
• Monitoring the contribution policy adopted in 2020 as well as monitoring compliance with the solidarity agreements included in this.
• Evaluating the Communication policy 2021-2023 and monitoring the implementation of this.
• Monitoring developments with respect to the sustainability policy.