PENSION INCREASE 2022. Retirement pensions will benefit from a 4% revaluation with retroactive effect from July 1st. Which plans are concerned? What gain on the payslip? We take stock.
[Mis à jour le 8 juillet 2022 à 09h56] The highly anticipated Purchasing Power Bill was presented in Council of Ministers this Thursday, July 7, 2022. And the subject of pensions has necessarily been discussed, in particular the revaluation of basic pensions! There was no longer any doubt as to its establishment, but it is now official. The increase in pensions will be of the order of 4%starting the August 9, 2022 retroactive to July 1. For a basic pension of 1 200 eurosthe gain should be 45 euros each month. This revaluation occurs in a tense social and economic context, inflation continues to grow (5,8% in June over one year). This consumer price index should even exceed the 5,5% average over the whole of 2022.
But then, who is really affected by this increase in pensions? All retirees? Not really, because this revaluation only concerns pensions from the basic diet. Standard supplementary pensions Agirc Arrco or Ircantec are not part of the system and will not benefit from the increase because they depend on the social partners. Agirc-Arrco, he even announced that no increase would be made in the summer. As every year, it should intervene at the November 1 next. As for basic pensions, the increase in pensions will be paid from August. Why ? As the pension for the month of July is paid the following month, the gain will be effective from the August 9, 2022.
The 4% increase results from the inflation that has been affecting France for several months. It is therefore an “alignment” with inflation to help combat the loss of purchasing power. However, this decision is a significant development compared to the policy deployed by governments in recent years. For 10 years, retirement pensions were no longer indexed to inflation despite its inclusion in the Social Security Code, resulting in a loss of purchasing power of more than 10% in 10 years according to the orientation council of retreats. However, this 4% increase should not completely satisfy several pensioner unions who were demanding an increase of at least 4.5%, with retroactive effect from January 1.
The rules for increasing supplementary pensions (Agirc-Arrco, for example) differ from those for basic pensions. These supplementary pensions are calculated from the number of points acquired during the career, to which a value of the point is multiplied. Then, the social partners decide on a possible revaluation of the value of this point.
Generally, these pensions are increased every year on November 1st. In 2021, the value of the Agirc-Arrco point was revalued by 1%. It therefore went from 1.2714 euros to 1.2841 euros. Regarding these supplementary pensions, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire was clear: “It is up to the social partners to upgrade supplementary pensions. We will increase the basic pensions.” So, a little more patience to know the next revaluation of the index point!
The overall retirement pension for civil servants consists mainly of the basic pension. A supplementary scheme, the “additional public service pension (RAFP)” also exists, but is not affected by the revaluation of retirement pensions. The increase in retirement pensions for civil servants should therefore be the same as for other employees.
The successive increases in the amount of retirement pensions (1% in January 2022 and 4% in July 2022) represent a cumulative increase of around 60 euros for a retirement pension equal to 1,200 euros according to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne who gave this figure during an interview with France Bleu on June 7, 2022.
Be careful, however, it is not the exact amount that will be displayed on your total pension since remember that this increase only concerns basic retirement pensions, excluding supplementary ones. However, the average in France for basic pensions is 704 euros according to the statement of the National Pension Insurance Fund, the CNAV. If we take this figure, the 4% gain expected this summer represents an increase of 28 euros per month. For a pension of 1,200 euros, the increase amounts to 45 euros per month.
The increase in pensions is effective from Friday July 1, 2022. De facto, the very first visible increase in retirement pensions will be visible during the first payment, the following month, namely August 9, 2022, a date revealed by Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt in early June. “We want this indexation to inflation to be valid for pensions in July. Under the general scheme, the pension for July is paid on August 9,” he explained then. A retroactive effect to July 1 should be applied.