Objective: to encourage surviving cohabitants still of working age to find a job and, incidentally, save money (read elsewhere).
Since 2016, the minimum age of the surviving spouse has increased but gradually, 6 months per year, going from 45 years to 50 years in 2025. The pace must accelerate (12 months per year) to reach the minimum age of 55 years in 2030. A tempo clearly too slow for the federal trainer.
A job trap logic
In Belgium, more than 57,000 people under 65 receive a survivor’s pension (for a total of around 172,000 in 2020), 91% of them are women.
“The impact of this measure is very significant, especially since these people mostly have low incomes. What concerns us is this kind of gamble of saying that they will find work again if they can no longer benefit from this survivor’s pension, which is completely crazy because we know very well that the chances of being recruited after 50 years are very thin and almost zero after 60 years“, protests Madeleine Guyot, general director of the League of Families. “This logic of employment trap is for us completely aberrant and extremely dangerous because it will impoverish people who were already mostly not financially comfortable.“, she adds.
The note from the president of the N-VA specifies that the transition allowance currently temporarily granted to the surviving cohabitant who has not reached the minimum age requirement is maintained for a maximum period of 2 years.
“Modernize the household dimension”
This measure was taken with the aim of “modernizing the size of the household”, specifies the note, the system of survivor’s pensions no longer corresponding to current lifestyles.
“This is not completely false, but is this where we need to intervene to modernize households? I don’t think so. The survivor’s pension remains necessary in a society where women continue to assume the majority of tasks related to the household and children. and therefore have neither the same career opportunities nor the same pension rights as men.
The League asks the future government coalition to give surviving spouses the choice between the transition allowance, limited in time but cumulative with work income, and the survivor’s pension. “It is up to them to choose the formula best suited to their situation.“, argues Madeleine Guyot. The League of Families also asks for it to be made clear that this right to a survivor’s pension will remain protected for pensioners.
