Like Japan, the Netherlands has an aging population. As a consequence, the affordability of old-age pensions is under pressure. The labour market is also changing, with people more often changing jobs or choosing to become self-employed. Both trends raise the question of whether the pension system in its current form still meets the needs of working people today and in the future. The Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment asked the Netherlands Institute for Social Research scp to carry out a study of the support for solidarity in the Dutch supplementary pension system. Do working people still want to build up their pension in a collective system? What social trends are relevant here? Do employees prefer solidarity or choice? And to what extent do they express a preference for collective or individual pension schemes? This report answers these questions.

Four focus groups met several times to discuss the concept of poverty, the necessities one needs in order not to be poor and what monthly budget is currently required to afford necessities in the Netherlands. Each group developed a common point of view that was elaborated in detailed consensual budgets for various types of households. As it is the first time the "consensual budget standards method" has been applied in the Netherlands, the report also discusses the merits of the approach for poverty research and budget counselling.

Stella Hoff is a senior researcher in the group Labour, Income and Social Security of the Netherlands Institute of Social ResearchSCP.