RETIREMENT AGE. The postponement of the legal retirement age is one of the most discussed points of the pension reform project presented by the government. And you, at what age can you claim to retire? And at full rate? Here are the answers.
[Mis à jour le 18 janvier 2023 à 10h06] The postponement of the legal retirement age, which would increase from 62 to 64 if the project were to succeed, is one of the most commented (and criticized?) points of the pension reform wanted by the government of ‘Elisabeth Borne. Sometimes considered unfair, placing the weight of such a reform on the shoulders of low wages who will have to work longer, even having started working early, the pension reform must still be presented to the Council of Ministers on January 23, then pass before the National Assembly at the beginning of February. But then, what are the real changes with the current system?
The project, unveiled on January 10, 2023, clearly provides for this two-year postponement of the age from which a person can claim to claim their pension rights, at full or partial rate with a discount. The legal retirement age was set at 62 during the 2010 Woerth reform, where it was 60 previously. If the 65-year-old track had been mentioned, it was ultimately that of the 64-year-olds who was retained subject to an acceleration of the Touraine reform timetable dating from 2014. This timetable provided for an extension of the contribution period to 43 years (172 quarters) from the generation born in 1973. The government project plans to introduce this extension to 43 years from the 1965 generation. According to the executive, this acceleration would make it possible to balance the pension system and compensate for the year difference (64 instead of 65) in retirement compared to Emmanuel Macron’s initial project.
The current system of the pension scheme allows retirement with 167 quarters of contributions, i.e. at age 62 (excluding early retirement). The pension reform project will gradually change this legal age. Leaving at 62 will still be possible for people born in 1960. This legal starting age will be the same for people born between January and August 1961 who can also leave at 62 but with 168 quarters to have validated. Everything changes from 1er September 1961 according to the government’s reform project which plans from this date to add 3 terms per year. Assets born between 1er September 1961 and December 31, 1961 will therefore be the first to have to work an additional quarter (3 months) to assert their pension rights, being able to retire from the age of 62 years and 3 months.
The legal retirement age will be gradually raised to 64 years. Three months per year will be added from 1er September 2023, to reach 63 years and 3 months in 2027 and 64 years from 2030. discount if he has contributed the required quarters (172 quarters from 2027). The government’s initial project, which provided for a departure at 65, seems to have been ruled out in favor of a legal retirement age of 64, in return for an acceleration of the Touraine reform with a contribution period increased to 43 annuities (172 quarters) from 2027 against 2035 initially.
If the 2023 pension reform project succeeds as it stands, i.e. according to the conditions presented by the government on January 10, 2023, your legal retirement age, the age from which you can claim your pension rights will be determined by your year of birth as well as the number of quarters contributed during your professional career. Here is the calendar to remember to calculate your legal retirement age from your year of birth:
- People born in 1960: the legal retirement age will be 62
- People born between January 1, 1961 and August 31, 1961: the legal retirement age will be 62
- People born between September 1, 1961 and December 31, 1961: the legal retirement age will be 62 years and 3 months
- People born in 1962: the legal retirement age will be 62 years and 6 months
- People born in 1963: the legal retirement age will be 62 years and 9 months
- People born in 1964: the legal retirement age will be 63
- People born in 1965: the legal retirement age will be 63 years and 3 months
- People born in 1966: the legal retirement age will be 63 years and 6 months
- People born in 1967: the legal retirement age will be 63 years and 9 months
- People born in 1968: the legal retirement age will be 64
- People born after 1968: the legal retirement age will be 64
- People born in 1969: the legal retirement age will be 64
Please note that the legal retirement age must be associated with a sufficient number of contributions to assert your rights to a full pension. Otherwise, a person who has reached the legal age according to his year of birth will be able to assert his rights but a discount will be applied to him, reducing de facto the amount of his retirement pension. To obtain a full pension, 43 annual contributions, i.e. 172 quarters, will be required for people born from 1965. Let us take the example of a person born in 1968. If the reform provides for a legal retirement age of 64, a person born in 1968 but having started working at the age of 22 will not be able to benefit from a retirement at pension at the full rate only at the age of 65 (22 years + 43 years of contribution). If she decides to exercise her rights from the age of 64, as the reform would allow her to do, a discount will be applied to her, reducing the amount of her retirement pension. This is the difference between legal retirement age and full pension.
No, the pension reform project presented by the government on January 10, 2023 does not provide for any modification of the discount and premium rules. As a reminder, this system makes it possible to retire at the legal retirement age (soon 64), even without having contributed all of the required quarters. In this case, a discount is set up and comes to puncture the retirement pension, to reduce the amount. The pension reform will not change the age limit from which no discount is applied: this age “cancellation of the discount” remains fixed at 67 years.
However, the legal retirement age should be taken with a grain of salt. Many working people today do not claim their retirement rights from the legal age and work a few months (years?) more to obtain a better retirement pension. Thus, if the legal retirement age is now 62 years before the reform presented by the government, the real retirement age of the French is 62 years and 9 months according to the 2021 statistics of the National Old Age Insurance Fund (CNAV), a calculation which takes into account early departures. If we exclude these early departures, the effective retirement age is 63.1 years according to these same 2021 figures from the CNAV, an age which continues to increase since it has gained 6 months in 8 years. (62.5 years in 2013).