Social Security - Old-Age Insurance

No pensions are granted automatically. Regardless of professional record, applications must be submitted six months before the actual date of retirement to the competent services in the place of residence (national fund for Paris, regional funds for outside Paris).

In all cases, the periods of salaried employment in Member States of the European Economic Area are added up. The pension rate varies according to the duration of the professional career and the salaries received.

In France, employees can retire at the age of 60. The social security pension is based on the basic salary, and the rate and duration of insurance contributions.

The basic salary is the average annual salary of the best twenty-five years under the insurance.

At the moment, the maximum pension rate (50%) is granted to insured persons aged at least 60 years, who can prove that they have contributed for at least 160 quarters, in other words 40 years’ contributions. This period will be extended by one quarter per year to 41 years’ contributions in 2012 and 41 years’ ¾ contributions in 2020.

Contributions for supplementary pensions and executive pensions entitle people to “retirement points”. The amount of your supplementary pension reflects your contributions, since it is determined on the basis of how long you have worked, your salaries and your contributions (employers’ and employees’ share), in other words, the number of points acquired and their value.

The amount of the pension can be increased if the employee has taken out a supplementary insurance policy (mutual or private insurance).
It should be noted that the Law of 24 July 2003 on the reform of retirement schemes provides for the possibility of purchasing missing annual contributions, up to a limit of 12 quarters, and introduces tax measures to encourage employees to have recourse to pension savings funds.

Source: European Union
© European Communities, 1995-2005
Reproduction is authorised.