PENSION INCREASE. Supplementary retirement pensions will rise well before the end of the year. Who is concerned ? What increase? We take stock.
[Updated October 3, 2022 at 4:13 p.m.] What will be the amount of the pension increase for former private sector employees? In reality, to calculate this increase, Agirc Arrco is based on two main data. First, the forecast average inflation rate over the year provided by INSEE (it could be around 5.3% in 2022). Then, with regard to the wage development index, it is estimated by taking the average between the government hypothesis, taken from the stability program and the European Commission’s hypothesis. This last indicator is important insofar as pensions cannot increase faster than wages, at the risk of jeopardizing the balance of the pension system.
Thanks to this calculation, the revaluation of the complementary should be of the order of 5.1% on November 1, 2022. The formalization of the service value of the point, it will be ratified on October 6 next during a council of administration in the presence of the social partners. In total, 13 million retirees are affected by this revaluation of complementary. Then, the pensions of the basic scheme will also benefit from a new revaluation. It should be around 0.8%, as included in the Social Security financing bill. It follows the 4% increase adopted in July 2022, which has been really visible for retirees since September 9th. A retroactive effect to the 1st is obviously applied.
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 the supplementary pensions. We will upgrade the basic pensions.” So, a little more patience to know the next revaluation of the index point! But in all likelihood, the increase in supplementary pensions should be announced at the beginning of October 2022. For the complementary Agirc Arrco, the social partners will meet on October 6, 2022 during a board of directors to formalize the value of service of the point, and therefore, of the increase in supplementary pensions from November 1, 2022. Last year, the negotiations initiated by the social partners resulted in an amendment to the 2019 agreement. Good news for the beneficiaries because the room for maneuver concerning a next increase could be greater, of the order of plus or minus 0.5 points instead of 0.2 points to determine the evolution of supplementary pensions in relation to the level of inflation .
The first payment of the pension increase for the basic scheme therefore took place on September 9, 2022, one month late. Regarding public service pensioners, the increase will take place at the end of September. Supplementary pensions will be revalued on November 1, 2022. The increase will be between 4.9% and 5.2%. Finally, basic scheme pensions will increase by 0.8% on January 1, 2023. Here is the full schedule:
Civil servants, employees of the private sector… This increase in pensions concerns all the basic schemes! In other words, the pension of own right, the reversion pensions, the beneficiaries of the ASPA as well as the ASI.
The successive increases in the amount of retirement pensions (1% in January 2022 and 4% in July 2022) represent a cumulative increase of approximately 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 it should be remembered 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 monthly.
The amount of pensions from the basic scheme should also be reassessed from January 2023. The increase should be around 0.8%, as set out in the Social Security financing bill. It follows a first revaluation of 4% in July 2022, within the framework of the purchasing power law voted this summer by deputies and senators. The objective for the government being to index the rise in pensions to the rise in inflation, measured at 5.8% in August over one year, and which should exceed 5% on average over the whole of year 2022. Beneficiaries of the ASPA as well as the survivor’s pension are also concerned. A debate on a new anticipation of the revaluation of pensions is already planned for Parliament in mid-October, in particular due to the high inflation which should continue in the first quarter of 2023.
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.
