In 1925 was promulgated the first compulsory pension insurance for employees, which would become the pension system that we knowît today. Just 100 years after this great victory for workers, 2025 will mark a a terrible year for the pension system, and undoubtedly also for the end of one’s career.
It’s a fact: 2025 will mark a turning point in the history of the pension system in Belgium. Explanations.
The pension at 66 years old
From 1is February 2025, the legal pension age will increase from 65 to 66 years. This means that workers born from 1is January 1960 will have to wait at least one more year before being able to take their legal pension. As a reminder, the measure was decided in 2014 by the government of Charles Michel. The reasons given to justify this choice were mainly twofold: increased life expectancy and the cost of pensions. These justifications are not valid.
While it is true that projections indicate a longer life expectancy, this element must be put into perspective. The indicator itself is not adequate. To be able to enjoy your retirement, you must be in good health. However, healthy life expectancy in Belgium is only 65 years. Furthermore, this average hides large differences between the population groups. Highly qualified people, who generally work in less strenuous jobs, have a healthy life expectancy of more than 70 years. Low-skilled people, for their part, barely reach 60 years of healthy life expectancy. Raising the age for the entire population, without taking into account the length of the career or the arduousness of the work, is an unfair measure because a large number of people will arrive at retirement in poor health and will not be able to benefit from it. .
If it is true that the aging of the population will lead to an increase in the cost of pensions, estimated at 5.5 percentage points of GDP, the response to this observation is a political choice. The right claims that there is no choice but to save money, which means raising the pension age. Paradoxically, there is no question of touching supplementary pensions, which nevertheless cost more than 3 billion euros per year in tax gifts to the State and are incredibly unequal*.However, there are other choices: for example, we could increase revenues to compensate for the increase in costs. Among the solutions, let us cite the increase in quality jobs subject to Social Security contributions (not flexi-jobs), the increase in gross salaries subject to contributions (which implies a revision of the 1996 law wage freeze) or even the increase in tax revenues both for companies which make excess profits and for high assets, which are taxed very little.
Behind the different ways of (de)financing pensions lie political issues: equitable distribution of income and fair sharing of working time versus indecent income for a privileged minority.
Minimum pension less accessible
From 1is January 2025, the conditions for benefiting from the minimum pension will be more strict. Contrary to what its name suggests, the minimum pension is not a real minimum right. Indeed, it is not open to everyone. To have access, you must meet conditions. So far, it was necessary count 30 years of career including each at least 156 full-time equivalent days of work. To calculate career years, we take into account periods of actual work.f et dperiods assimilated to work (periods of unemployment, illness, time credit, etc.). A this condition 30 years of career now another is added, adopted by theand government Vivaldi in 2024. A person ofevra in addition justifiesr d‘at least 3,120 days of actual work full time. This corresponds to 10 years of full-time employment. If some periods of inactivity remain assimilated to work (maternity leave et thematic holidays, in particular), unemploymentthe RCC and time credits ne sistook more into account for access to the minimum pension. This is an attack on the principle of assimilated periodswhich suggests that there are periods that are legitimate to assimilate and that there are bad ones such as periods of unemployment. Worse, because of this effective career condition, a whole series of people will no longer be entitled to the minimum pension. Today, almost 4 penrolled out of 10 receive the minimum pension. The majority of beneficiaries are women (58%),The attack on assimilated periods will have a negative impact on their pensionsespecially since they are the ones who most often take time credits to take care of the children.
The pension bonus
Since 1is July 2024, THE workers who postpone their retirement (legal or early) from 1 at the earliestisJanuary 2025 to continue workingcan form a Rising « bonus » and only The worker will receive a amount not pour every day work After the date where he could have taken his pension with a maximum of 936 days, i.e. 3 years of 312 days. By “worked day”, we mean the days of actual work as well as a maximum of 30 days assimilated per year (hors days of time credits) provided that you have worked at least 1 day in the year.
The amount of the bonus depends on the number of years worked on the date closest to the pension. If a worker has less than 43 years of career (at least 104 days worked or equivalent) on the earliest date on which he can take his pension, he constitutespour each day work full time** :
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12,5€, with a maximum of €3,927.51 during the first year ;
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25,50€, with a maximum of €7,855.02 during the second year ;
After 3 years of full-time work after the nearest pension date, the total net bonus will amount to €23,565.06. The amount of the bonus is prorated in the event of part-time work.
In the event of a career of 43 years or more, the worker immediately constitutes his bonus to the highest amount : €11,782.53 per year, or a maximum of €35,347.59 over 3 years.
THEFederal service des Pensions will automatically calculate and pay the pension bonus. There will be no need to ask.
As a union, we have long demanded a improvement in the amount of the pension. The pension bonus is far from meeting this objective. Indeed, theimprovement is conditioned to career extension. NOn the contrary, we plead for a collective reduction in working time – whether weekly or throughout the career – pour share the work. While what of broad categories of workers, particularly those who carry out difficult jobs or who started working very early, will not have the capacity to extend their careers and improve their pension, lthe beneficiaries pension bonus are likely to be people with less arduous and better paid positions, who would have extended their careers anyway and will benefit from an additional windfall.
ARIZONA
The supernote of the NVA, on the basis of which the partners of the – probable – future government of Arizona (NVA, CD&V, Come onMR and the Engagés) plans neither more nor less to remove thee unemployment scheme with company supplement (ex-early retirement) and to tighten access to end-of-career time credit, by extending the career condition to 35 years (instead of the current 25 years). However, these are essential measures to make the end of the careers of many workers sustainable.
* 70% of supplementary pension beneficiaries share 10% of supplementary pension incomewhile 1% of beneficiaries take advantage of 20% of the total amount.
** These amounts will increase with each indexation.
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