Next Friday, the French could definitely look at the new modalities of the pension system. In fact, it is April 14 when the Constitutional Council will issue its decisions, on the one hand on the shared initiative referendum that aims to directly ask the French to postpone the legal retirement age beyond 62 and on another side on the reform of the Social Security financing law for 2023.
The Elders can then decide to censor the text, in whole or in part, or approve it in its entirety. As a reminder, the government had set the month of September as the deadline for the application of the bill during its initial presentation last January. More recently, Emmanuel Macron indicated during a television interview that he wanted it to enter into force by the end of the year “so that things can fall into place.”
The reform will affect French people born after September 1, 1961
With this expression, the President of the Republic was referring in particular to the average annual increase of 600 euros for 1.8 million retirees and the beginning of the displacement of the legal age of three additional months a year. This postponement is the star measure of this pension reform and consists of progressively raising the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years at a rate of three months a year from September 1 to 2030. At the same time, the text provides for a acceleration of the Touraine Reform with the passage of the contribution period leading to a “full rate” pension from 42 (168 quarters) to 43 years (172 quarters) by 2027, at the rate of one quarter per year.
From the beginning of the school year, the first French people directly affected by these new shifts will be those born between September 1 and December 31, 1961 who will leave at age 62 and three months later contributed 169 quarters compared to the previous 168 . French people born in 1962 must also have access to an additional quarter of the contribution to leave at 62 years and six months. For French people born at the end of the 1960s, the number of additional quarters of contributions that allow them to benefit from a full pension is even greater.
- The French born in 1963 will have to wait until they are 62 years and 9 months to leave after having contributed 170 quarters, two more than before.
- French people born in 1964 will be able to leave exactly at the age of 63 after having also contributed 2 additional quarters, 171 instead of 169.
- Among the main losers of this reform, the French born in 1965 will have to contribute 3 additional quarters (169 compared to 172) to leave at 63 years and 3 months.
- The same happens with those born in 1966 who will not be able to stop working until they are 63 years and six months.
- The number of additional periods goes back to two (172 instead of 170) for French people born between 1967 and 1969. Employees born in 1967 can leave once when they are 63 years and 9 months old, while the generations of 1968 and 1969 are the first whose legal age is set at 64 years.
- For the youngest French, the legal exit age remains the same, but employees born between 1970 and 1972 will have to contribute an additional quarter (172 instead of 171).
Two new age limits for long runs
Beyond these changes, the reform does not modify the age from which the discount is cancelled, leaving it set at 67 years for those who will not have all the required quarters. As a reminder, certain situations are not affected by the postponement of the age of majority from 62 to 64 years. This is the case of disabled workers who may retire from the age of 55 or of disabled workers who may stop working at 60 years of age.
Another of the great axes of the pension reform has to do with long careers. At present, a worker who has started working before the age of 20 can benefit from an early exit of two years, which can be doubled if they start working life before the age of 16. The bill provides for adapting the system by introducing two new age limits. As soon as the text enters into force, French people who started working between the ages of 20 and 21 will be able to leave at the age of 63. Those who started before the age of 20 may leave two years earlier, that is, at age 62. Employees who joined before the age of 18 may claim their right to retirement four years earlier, that is, 60 years. Finally, those who started before the age of 16 will be able to finish their degree six years earlier, that is, 58 years. In addition, once the early retirement age has been reached, the minimum contribution period will be 43 annual contributions for all long-term careers.
“The senior index” for companies with 300 employees from 2024
Appearing in the second article of the text, the “senior index” had been the subject of heated debates in the National Assembly that finally rejected it. The device finally appears in the pension reform project and will aim to better understand the place of employees at the end of their career in companies. Companies with more than 1,000 employees will have to apply it this year, then the minimum labor threshold will be lowered for structures with at least 300 employees starting next year. Squares that do not play the game will face penalties.
The pensions of future retirees who have “full career”, that is, 43 annuities contributed from now on, may not be less than 85% of the minimum wage, that is, approximately 1,200 euros gross per month at the time of entry into force. of the new pension reform. This revaluation will also apply to current retirees who meet these same criteria.
Finally, the entry into force of the text will be accompanied by the end of most of the existing special regimes. Under the “grandfather clause”, which already exists at SNCF, this measure will only affect new hires within the RATP, the electricity and gas industries or the Banque de France.
Source: BFM TV
