Supplementary pensions for former private sector employees will be increased by 1.6% from November 1, i.e. 0.2 points below the inflation forecast by INSEE for 2024 (1.8%), announced Tuesday the scheme which pays them, Agirc-Arrco.
This increase is equivalent to an increase of 13 euros per month on average, for a supplementary pension of 800 euros, a source close to the board of directors of this scheme, managed jointly by employers and unions, told AFP. The additional part of the pension for private sector employees represents between 20% and 60% of the total pension, depending on the person.
This 1.6% revaluation will cost Agirc-Arrco 1.6 billion euros in a full year, or 24 billion euros over 15 years, Agirc-Arrco said in a press release. Staff and employer representatives meet each year to determine this rate of change, which must take into account inflation forecasts and the economic situation. Ils “evaluate, over fifteen years, the sustainability of the evolution of the amount of pensions on the financial balance and the level of its reserves”details Agirc-Arrco. Ils “make sure“that Agirc-Arrco has in reserve, “at any time, at least six months of pension payments“, in accordance with its “golden rule“. Agirc-Arrco’s reserves today reach around 80 billion euros.
The employers wanted to respect “a form of moderation”
Under a joint agreement signed last year for the period 2024-2026, the board of directors is supposed to under-index the revaluation, subtracting 0.4 points from inflation. But he has a certain latitude: depending on the health of the regime, he can raise this rate to the height of inflation.
The very degraded state of public finances has complicated discussions this year: Agirc-Arrco being integrated into the overall calculation of public accounts, employers wanted to respect “a form of moderation” and limit the revaluation to 1.5%, a source close to the matter told AFP. But the unions, arguing for the good financial health of the system, wanted to get closer to inflation, in particular to supplement the freeze planned by the government for basic pensions.
To save 3.6 billion, the government has decided to postpone until July 1, 2025 the revaluation of general system pensions, scheduled for January 1. In 2023, Agirc-Arrco paid 92.4 billion euros to its 14 million pensioners, or 5.9 billion more than in 2022. Pensions were able to be increased by 4.9%, thanks to solid financial situationof the regime and the new revenues suggested by the pension reform.
