LONG CAREERS 2023. The pension reform will unfortunately force some contributors to work longer. Number of quarters, annuities and conditions, we tell you everything.
[Mis à jour le 1er février 2023 à 08h11] Today, it is possible to benefit from an early departure for a long career by having started working before the age of 16 or 20. The pension reform project aims to create a new level, at 18, to broaden the system. Attention, to benefit from it, it will be necessary to have validated 5 trimesters before this age, or 4 if you were born at the end of the year. The contribution period remains at 43 years for 172 quarters. However, the gradual decline in the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years, at the rate of one quarter more per month, a flagship measure of the pension reform, risks making losers.
Let’s take the example of Carla, born in 1973 and having started working at the age of 17. Currently, she can leave at age 60 at full rate, if she has validated 43 annuities. With the pension reform, she will have to contribute 44 annuities (one year of increase), for a departure at 61, and no longer 60. Also, she will have to contribute 176 quarters, and no longer 172. Women could also be among the losers. According to a government impact study, a woman will have to work on average 7 months longer with the reform, compared to 5 additional months for men. And up to 9 months longer for a woman born in 1972, four months longer than a man. The pension reform will now be presented in the hemicycle on February 6, 2023 for two weeks of debates. The discussions must be completed no later than 26 mars next year, according to the temporal rules defined by a bill on the amending financing of Social Security (PLFRSS).
Through this pension reform, the government promises a reform “adapted, so that no one who started working early is forced to work over 44 years”. Here is the new retirement age, based on your starting age. Attention, to benefit from this early departure, it is mandatory to have validated at least 5 terms before the age of 20, 4 if you were born at the end of the year:
- 58 ans : if you started working at 14 ans
- 59 ans : if you started working at 15 ans
- 60 ans : if you started working at 16 ans
- 61 ans : if you started working at 17 ans
- 62 ans : if you started working between 18 and 20 years old
To benefit from early retirement for a long career, you must have started working before 20 years. Two other conditions prevail. First, your pension insurance period must include, all compulsory basic schemes combined, a minimum number of quarters contributed. Also, you must have acquired a minimum number of quarters of retirement insurance at the start of your career. These 2 conditions for the duration of pension insurance vary according to your year of birth, the age from which you started working and the age from which you plan to take early retirement.
The 2023 pension reform slightly modified the system for long careers by introducing a new level, set at 18 years. From now on, if you started working before the age of 18, it will be possible to retire at age 60, i.e. four years earlier (if you contributed at least 44). As mentioned above, the earlier you started working, the earlier you can retire.
Another potential novelty, to compensate for chopped careers, the periods validated under the old-age insurance for stay-at-home parents (AVPF), in particular due to parental leave, could be part of the long career system. The persons concerned could therefore validate up to four additional quarters in this situation. Periods which would also be counted in the calculation of the increased minimum pension. This should increase the amount of small pensions for some women, forced to put their career on hold to take care of their child(ren).
The national pension fund for local authority employees (CNRACL) is the pension fund for the basic scheme of local government and hospital employees. It is a public administrative institution of the State, it is managed by the Pensions and Solidarity Department of Caisse des Dépôts. Note that the conditions for obtaining a “long career” pension are exactly the same as for other civil servants.