PENSION INCREASE. To take into account galloping inflation, retirement pensions will increase in 2022. In July or August? What increase? What about supplementary pensions? We take stock.
[Mis à jour le 14 juin 2022 à 08h11] To take account of galloping inflation for several months (5.2% in May over one year), retirement pensions will be revalued this summer! A 4% increase is planned for the basic plans, but when exactly will this increase take place? It will take effect from July. Be careful though, if you are retired and you see no effect on your retirement pension for the month of July, don’t panic. The first revalued payment will only be visible from August, the July retirement pension being paid in August. The official date is now known: August 9, 2022.
This 4% increase should represent an increase of 60 euros per month for each pensioner in the basic scheme, for a pension equivalent to 1,200 euros. However, this increase does not seem to convince the various unions of retirees, who rather hoped for a revaluation of around 4.5% with retroactive effect from January 1st. Still, all basic retirement pensions will increase in July 2022. Regarding supplementary retirement pensions, they are generally revalued every year on November 1 but depend on the social partners.
The next pension increase will be effective from July 1, 2022, the government has confirmed. 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 announced by the 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.
Adding to the increase of just over 1% in January, the total increase in pensions in 2022 is therefore 5%. This represents a gain of 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. Please note, this is not however 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.
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 overall retirement pension for civil servants consists mainly of the basic pension. A supplementary scheme, the “additional public service pension (RAFP)”, concerns 20% of the amount of the annual gross index salary, at most. De facto, the increase in pensions on July 1, 2022 should be greater for civil servants than for other pensioners.
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 the Mayor became 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!