Major changes to the survivor's pension system could come into force as early as 2025. These changes, proposed by the Pension Orientation Council (COR), will impact the 4.4 million retired beneficiaries, with losers and winners.
In a context of global reform of the pension system, which will notably see an increase in pensions and modifications to the progressive retirement system in 2025, the government now attacks survivor's pensions. This device, which allows the surviving spouse to receive part of the deceased's pensionis the subject of in-depth reflection. While the Agirc-Arrco pension payment dates for 2025 have just been announced, these new changes could particularly impact retirees whose monthly pension exceeds 1,430 euros.
The current system is characterized by great complexitywith rules that vary considerably depending on the retirement plans. For the general scheme for private sector employees, the surviving spouse must be at least 55 years old and respect a resource ceiling of 24,232 euros per year. Civil servants must have a minimum of two years of marriage, but without means requirements. The complementary schemes apply their own criteria: no minimum marriage duration for Agirc-Arrco, two years for farmers, and five years for lawyers.
The rest after this ad
Survivor's pension: changes to harmonize access conditions
The COR offers several avenues to simplify and harmonize the system. Among the main recommendations is the removal or generalization of resource conditions and non-remarriage for all regimes. The age limit of 55 ans could also be either extended to all funds or completely eliminated. These changes aim to reduce the non-recourse ratecurrently estimated between 7.9% and 9.5% according to the National Old Age Insurance Fund.
THE amounts paid also constitute a crucial point of this reform. Currently, in the general system, the pension represents 54% de the basic pension of the deceased and 60% for his supplementary pension, with a monthly ceiling of 1,043.28 euros and a minimum of 348 euros. The civil service system does not set any limits. The COR plans tostandardize these ratesoffering options to 50%, 55% or 60% for all pension funds, a measure which would significantly impact the amounts received by beneficiaries.
The rest after this ad
A new method of calculating survivor’s pensions which is causing debate
The most significant change concerns the method of calculating the survivor's pension. The COR suggests'adopt a single formula based on the difference between two thirds of the deceased's pension and one third of the surviving spouse's pension. This new method could benefit people whose income was significantly lower than that of their deceased spouse. On the other hand, she would penalize couples with similar incomes or cases where the survivor received a higher pension.
For example, for a deceased spouse's pension of 2,500 euros:
- With a surviving spouse receiving 900 euros: the survivor's pension would increase from 1,250 to 1,367 euros ;
- With a surviving spouse receiving 2,000 euros: she would decrease from 1,250 to 1,000 euros ;
- In the case of a surviving spouse receiving 3,000 euros: the reduction would be even more marked, going from 1,250 to 667 euros.
The rest after this ad
These changes raise questions ofequity and social justice. If they would make it possible to harmonize a currently fragmented system, they would create inevitably winners and losers. The government will therefore have to carefully weigh these proposals before their possible implementation in 2025. According to an analysis by Journal du Net, which studied in detail the COR report on the reform of survivor's pensions.
Editor for Aufeminin since 2024, Pierre shares his passion for sport and well-being. Always on the lookout for the latest trends in health and fitness, he shares advice…
