On January 1, 2019, a key change in the principle of calculating employee pensions came into effect. Until then, who obtained his basic pension at full rate in the basic scheme was generally assured of receiving his Agirc-Arrco supplement without reduction.
This is no longer true since the introduction of a temporary malus-bonus system: now, even with the full rate in the basic scheme, the supplementary pension can be reduced by 10% or 5% for three years if the retirement is not postponed by at least one year, from the moment the conditions for the full rate are met. With exceptions, especially for the most modest.
This reform was imposed by the Medef to encourage seniors to postpone their retirement, as part of negotiations on the scheme conducted with the unions in 2015. The idea at the time had more ideological and political aims than financial since ‘ there was talk that the device would save the diet some 500 million euros per year only on the more than 6 billion savings that were to allow, in 2020, all the measures of the agreement.
No CSG, no reduction
However, uncertainty reigned over the behavior of those seeking retirement. Were they going to leave with the temporary penalty? Wait a year? The first elements of responses were provided at the end of May by the Directorate of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (DREES) in its report ” Retirees and pensions “.
The reform was first applied to people who retired in 2019, but those born before 1957 were not affected. According to the Drees, of the 371,666 seniors of the 1957 and subsequent generations who liquidated their Agirc-Arrco pension in 2019, 183,266 were fined. Half, therefore (49.3%).
These figures include retirees targeted by the full 10% penalty (those who pay the CSG at full rate), but also by the “half-penalty” of 5% (those who pay it at the reduced rate of 3.8%) , the authors of the report told us.
The reform also introduced a bonus for those who retire at least two years after the full rate: for one year, the supplementary pension is boosted by 10% for a postponement of two years, by 20% for three years, by 30%. for four. In 2019, only 1,033 retirees born in 1957 or after received it (0.3%), but this figure is not very meaningful for the time being, as the number of seniors eligible for the bonus was reduced in 20191.
What about retirees from 1957 or after having escaped the penalty as well as the bonus? They are divided into three groups:
- 29.2% (of the total) were automatically exempt. Low-income households (exempt from CSG), early departures due to disability, unfitness for work, certain family helpers, unemployed people at the end of their entitlement or invalidity pension recipients, beneficiaries of the Disabled Adult’s Allowance (AAH) , etc.
- 12.7% escaped it because they had already exceeded their full one-year rate (without reaching the bonus).
- 8.5% have not suffered a temporary penalty but a definitive reduction. The temporary penalty is indeed “reserved” for full rate pensions, the others have anyway a definitive reduction in Agirc-Arrco.
Men more than women
Another element: women are more often automatically exempt from penalties than men. They are thus 32% to have been exempted for specific situation (modest household, family helper, etc.) against 26% of men. And 10% (against 7% of men) not to have suffered a temporary penalty because they already had a permanent penalty. As a result, men are more affected by the penalty – 51% against 47% of women.
However, these are only the first data. It is too early to take stock of the behavior of the 1957 generation, the first to be affected by the reform, the seniors having decided to postpone their departure for at least one year and who could leave as of 2019 (at 62 years old, the ‘legal age) logically not appearing in the 2019 departure statistics.
The services of Agirc-Arrco also do not wish to comment on these figures for the time being, nor to provide more details on the 2020 departures, because discussions between the social partners who co-pilot the scheme should resume in the coming months. , on this subject and on the finances of the plan in general.
“The services of Agirc-Arrco must provide us this year with a more detailed evaluation of the system and we will then be able to see the effect of the measure on behavior, know which populations have opted for the penalty, etc.. But my first impression confirms what I had foreseen in 2015, the measure will have little effect on behavior, most people prefer the penalty to postponing retirement ”, reacts Frédéric Sève, CFDT national secretary.
The more complete assessment of the first years of application of the device will not fail to be scrutinized in the months to come when the debate on a pension reform and the financial perspectives of the system has been relaunched.
How much is the penalty on a supplementary pension of 500 euros?
Take the fictitious example of Barbara, who had planned to retire at 1er July 2021 at age 62, with the 167 quarters required to obtain the full rate for his generation (1959). Without the new Agirc-Arrco malus-bonus system, she would have received 1,650 euros of net pension: 1,150 euros of basic pension + 500 euros of additional.
With the reform, if it maintains its departure at 1er July 2021, and that it is not among the population exempted from the penalty or affected by the half-penalty, its additional pension will be reduced by 10%, for three years. Until June 2024, she will therefore receive 1,600 euros per month (1,150 + 450). And from May 2022, his full pension, 1,650 euros, will be paid to him. The reform will cost him a total of 1,800 euros (calculations excluding annual revaluations). If she waits for the 1er July 2022 to retire, she will escape the penalty … but she will give up one year of retirement.
1. In order to have exceeded the full two-year rate from 2019 while having been born at least in 1957, and therefore to be eligible for the bonus, it was necessary to have obtained his full rate at the latest in 2017. This supposes to have been entitled to early departure at age 60 or earlier, compared to 62 in the general case.