How we ask people whether a pension institution answered them

Our reachability study asks each national pension institution in writing how a person abroad can reach it, and we publish what each one told us on the answers page. That is one side. The other side is what happens when a person contacts the institution themselves. We now ask people that too, and we publish what they tell us, institution by institution, as set out on our method page.

Who we ask, and when

About 90 days after a free check, or after we delivered a report, we send one email, once. It goes only to people who chose it with its own consent tick. That tick is separate from the optional notes after a free check, which cover up to three emails within 30 days. Checks and reports from before the follow-up started are never asked, and our own test runs are never emailed.

What we ask

For each country in the check or the report, the email names the institution our reachability register holds for that country (54 institutions, one per national system) and asks three closed questions:

1. Did you contact the institution? Options: Yes, No.
2. Did you get an answer? Options: Yes, No, Not yet.
3. How many weeks did it take? Options: Under 2, 2 to 4, 4 to 8, 8 to 12, Over 12, No answer yet.

Each answer is one click on a link that carries a random code and nothing else: no address, no name, no country. There is no text box. Each code records one set of answers once, so a second click on the same question changes nothing.

What we publish

An outcome is one set of answers in which the person said they contacted the institution. An institution appears once enough outcomes are in. Below that, its page at /reachability/{country}/{institution} says that there are not enough outcomes yet, shows no number and is not offered to search engines. The threshold is enforced in our database, not only on the page, and answers from our own test runs are excluded there too.

For each published institution we show a plain status from a fixed rule, such as "People report getting answers from this office" or "People report slow or no answers from this office", with the date of the latest report. We publish no count and no percentage. The list is in country order.

What the status is not

The answers are self-reported. We do not check them with the institution, and the people who answer are those who chose the follow-up, not a sample of everyone who contacted it. This is factual reporting of what people told us. It is not advice, not a rating and not a statement about anyone's own pension. We identify and research; we do not give advice.

Sources

• Our method note, published 14 October 2026, with the three questions as they are sent.
• Our reachability study and its method, which name the institution for each national system.
• The institutions' own written answers on the answers page.