European Tracking Service on Pensions (ETS)
Background of the European Tracking Service on Pensions
In 2018 the European Commission called for the “development of web-based cross-border pension tracking services that help mobile workers follow their pension rights accrued in different Member States and pension schemes in the course of their career”.
A consortium of experienced European pension stakeholders took up the challenge to carry out a European Commission action to develop the Pilot stage of a European Tracking Service on Pensions (ETS). Partners in the ETS project include the European Association of Paritarian Institutions (AEIP), Sigedis and the Federal Pension Service in Belgium, PGGM and APG in the Netherlands, Versorgungsanstalt des Bundes und der Länder (VBL) in Germany, and the Swedish Pensions Agency Pensionsmyndigheten and Minpension.se in Sweden.
The €2.1 million ETS project was jointly funded by the European Commission (€1.7 million) and the consortium partners. Launched on January 1, 2019, the ETS project builds upon the foundation laid by the earlier “Track and Trace Your Pension in Europe” (TTYPE) initiative. The TTYPE project, which ran from June 2013 to June 2016, delivered a proposed design, key recommendations, and a business plan for establishing a European Pension Tracking Service.
Aim of the ETS project
The mission of the ETS project is to enable individuals to gain a clear overview of their pension entitlements acquired across the European Union and to provide them with personalized, tailored information about their pensions across Member States. The project also aims to support national pension tracking services and providers in delivering targeted communication to their participants and in locating them when needed.
ETS Pilot phase
In November 2022, the project consortium successfully completed the ETS pilot project and founded the ETS Association. From 2019 to 2022 we developed the pilot stage of the ETS project. The consortium has built the pilot stage of the European Tracking Service on Pensions under the already existing brand FindyourPension.eu, a website which has been supporting mobile researchers in dealing with their various pension claims since 2011. To this end, the FindyourPension (FYP) website for mobile researchers was broadened and relaunched and the infrastructure for data transmission was developed.
Belgium was the first country to be connected for a transmission of personal pension information to the ETS, creating a proof of concept. The current ETS Pilot is the first stepping stone on the path towards a fully functioning ETS.
For more information about the ETS Pilot project please read the report available here.
The ETS Association
The ETS Association pursues the following vision “All residents in the European countries should have access to information on their pension entitlements no matter where they were acquired within Europe and regardless of their country of residence.” To achieve our vision, the project consortium will build upon the deliverables from the Pilot phase and the results already achieved to begin working on the ETS deliverables in the rollout phase. The complex task of establishing the European Tracking Service for Pensions involves multiple aspects, target groups, and areas of activity.
Moving from the pilot to the roll-out phase of the ETS project
In March 2024 the ETS Association has been awarded with a grant of €4.7 million from the European Commission (DG EMPL) for the rollout phase of the European Tracking Service on Pensions, which is scheduled for five years. The funding was obtained through a successful project proposal submitted by the ETS Association in response to a Call for Proposals launched by the European Commission in 2023. According to the plan of the ETS Association, in the next five years, at least five European National Tracking Services will be connected to the project, so that individual pension information can be provided as comprehensively as possible.
Contribution of the ETS project to a social and digital and Europe
This project is a fundamental contribution to a social and digital Europe, ensuring that mobile workers are not disadvantaged in accessing pension information compared to non-mobile workers. The possibility of a cross-border career is a cornerstone of the European Union. In the future, people who decide to work in different EU countries will be better supported in finding their pension entitlements and pension institutions via the FindyourPension.eu website.
AEIP’s involvement and role in the ETS Association
AEIP has been a key partner since the Track and Trace Your Pension in Europe (TTYPE) initiative which ran from 2013. AEIP is proudly standing as the only European-level stakeholder within the ETS consortium.
We support the ETS’ goal of providing a comprehensive pension overview for employees who have worked in multiple European countries. The Project helps prevent inequalities in the EU labour market, strengthens social rights, and aligns closely with AEIP’s mission to enhance pension coverage and ensure pension adequacy for all.
As part of the ETS Association’s Board of Directors, AEIP plays a key role in shaping decisions. In addition, we actively contribute to the communication strategy and outreach efforts, reinforcing our commitment to the project’s success and visibility.
More information
For more information about the ETS project, please visit FindyourPension.eu.
