2023-09-01 08:00:17
Despite months of social movements, demonstrations, legislative battles and an appeal to the Constitutional Council, the pension reform will come into force, as planned, from September 1. Most of the implementing decrees were published during the summer – the others should appear between September and November, according to schedule. The point on what will change now.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Pensions: the reform could lead to an “additional cost”
Raising the retirement age
This is the heart of the reform wanted by the government, and undoubtedly the most contested measure, validated by the decree 2023-436 of June 3, 2023 : the full retirement age (except in special cases) is shifted by two years, from 62 to 64 years old. From Friday, people born from September 1, 1961 will have to wait 62 years and 3 months to claim retirement; this legal age will be gradually shifted by three months each year, reaching 64 in 2030.
The postponement of the retirement age is arranged for long careers: those who started working between the ages of 20 and 21 will be able to leave a year earlier than the others, at 63; those who started before age 20, at age 62; those who started before age 18, at age 60; and the few to have worked before the age of 16, at 58.
The reform also accelerates the extension of the contribution period initially provided for by the Touraine law of 2014. To obtain a full pension, it will be necessary to contribute not forty-two years, but forty-three years from 2027, instead of 2035. This increase will also take place gradually, at a rate of one additional quarter per year. The cancellation of the discount is maintained at age 67 (as before the reform) for contributors who will not have all the required quarters.
Gradual end of four special diets
“Special diets no longer suit the reality of the country”assured Emmanuel Macron during the presidential campaign of 2022. The reform, confirmed by four decrees published on July 30, puts an end to several of these special situations, but only for workers recruited after September 1st. This concerns the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens, the electricity and gas industries (such as EDF), the clerks and employees of notaries, the Banque de France and the Economic, Social and Environmental Council. New hires now come under the general scheme, and Agirc-Arrco for their supplementary pension.
Employees who were already in the workforce before September 1 will continue to benefit from special schemes, under the so-called “grandfather” clause. However, they are not entirely spared by the reform: their legal retirement age and the insurance period imposed to obtain a full pension will gradually increase, but only from 1 January 2025.
As for the other special diets, they are maintained. This is the case, for example, of that of the Comédie Française, the Paris Opera, sailors or senators – which can only be modified by the office of the Senate.
Revaluation of small pensions
To defend the social component of its reform, the government had initially suggested that no pension could be less than 1,200 euros net. But in reality, only a minority of the retirees concerned should reach this amount – around 250,000 people this year, to which 10,000 to 20,000 new retirees will have to be added each year.
Read the decryption: Article reserved for our subscribers Pension reform: how the government suggested that it would create a minimum pension of 1,200 euros
The government ensured early August that 1.7 million pensioners would benefit from “revaluation of their retirement” (without specifying the amount), but that only a part (700,000) would receive these sums in the fall. Subsequent resets are due to take place in spring 2024, retroactive to September 1, 2023.
The minimum pension was until now revalued annually depending on inflation. With the reform it will now be indexed on the minimum wage. The objective is that the gross pension at the end of a full career reaches at least 85% of the net minimum wage.
The world
Special offer
Unlimited access to all our content from €10.995.49/month for 1 year.
Benefit
The inhabitants of Mayotte, affiliated to a different scheme, had been forgotten in the initial government project, but they will benefit from a revaluation of the same order as the small full pensions thanks to an amendment from the Senate. The publication of the decree relating to Mayotte pensions is “planned for early September 2023”, according to government schedule.
Several other provisions
Among the other measures that come into force, specific insurance is created for family carers, on the model of old-age insurance for stay-at-home parents. This measure expands the list of people who will be able to obtain trimesters when they take care leave.
Also comes into force the premium for motherswho will be able to earn more contributions between the ages of 63 and 64 if they have already accumulated the annuities required for a departure at the full rate.
#update #whats