After hundreds of hours of debate and countless controversies, what does the final text of the law promulgated on Friday evening actually contain? Central measure of the reform, the legal retirement age is indeed postponed from 62 to 64 years. It will be gradually raised from September 1, at the rate of 3 months per year of birth. It will thus be set at 63 years and 3 months in 2027, at the end of the five-year term, then 64 years in 2030.
In addition, to benefit from his full pension, the French must, from 2027, have worked forty-three years (i.e. 172 quarters). This increase in the contribution period, voted in the Touraine reform of 2014, is accelerated. The age of cancellation of the discount, on the other hand, does not change: as today, people retiring at 67 will always automatically benefit from a full pension.
The law provides two exceptions to these age rules. “Four out of ten French people will not have to work until the age of 64,” said Elisabeth Borne. This is the case of people benefiting from the “long career” scheme, expanded compared to the initial text. To benefit from it, you must have your 43 annuities and have started working early. Thus, those who have 5 quarters of contributions (or 4 depending on their month of birth) before the age of 16 can leave from the age of 58, between 16 and 18 from the age of 60, between 18 and 20 from the age of 62. A fourth age limit has been added so that those who started between the ages of 20 and 21 can leave at 63. The final version of the text provides that the insurance period for taking early retirement “cannot be greater” than 43 annuities by 2027.
Another category benefiting from early retirement, people on disability or incapacity will be able to retire at age 62. Victims of an accident at work or an occupational disease will be able to retire for incapacity at the age of 60 (compared to 62 in the initial project). Disabled workers will be able to leave from the age of 55.
The law abolishes the main special schemes (RATP, electricity and gas industries, Banque de France, etc.) for people recruited from September 1, 2023. Those who are already in post retain the benefits of their special scheme and continue starting earlier, but they will have to work two more years like everyone else. However, the reform will not apply to them until 2025.
Another subject that has caused a lot of ink to flow, the minimum pension will be increased to 85% of the minimum wage, or 1200 euros, supplementary pension included. With regard to new retirees, 10,000 to 20,000 people would be affected by this measure, admitted Olivier Dussopt at the end of February, after announcing a much higher figure (40,000 people per year) a few weeks earlier. This measure also applies to current retirees.
With the postponement of the legal age to 64, some mothers are losing the benefit of their quarters for children. To compensate, the law grants them a pension bonus of up to 5%, provided they have a full career at age 63 and at least a quarter of additional insurance period for children. In addition, the 10% pension increase, granted to parents of three or more children, is extended to the liberal professions and lawyers.
On the other hand, the law does not retain the senior index, which was to be compulsory from this year for companies with more than 1,000 employees, and whose non-publication was to be punishable. Exit also the CDI senior, which had been added by the right-wing senators in order to facilitate the hiring of the over 60s. Invalidated by the Constitutional Council as “social riders”, these two provisions should however be reintroduced in the full employment law, which will be examined soon.
In the end, will the pension reform bring in as much as expected? The postponement of the age will save 17.7 billion euros in 2030. During the presentation of the reform on January 10, the executive affirmed that it would make it possible to compensate for the pension deficit expected at 13.5 billion euros. euros in 2030 and finance 4.8 billion in social support expenditure. But the latter have continued to increase over the course of the debates. “Even if we had a slight deficit of 300 or 400 million euros in 2030, it is not comparable with a deficit of 13.5 billion euros”, indicated the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt.