Lag in the starting age for arduous jobs, return to gradual retirement: here are the main changes announced this Tuesday, January 10 by the government for the pensions of 5.7 million civil servants.
- The starting age postponed even for difficult jobs
As for employees in the private sector, the legal retirement age is shifted by two years and therefore goes from 62 to 64 years. Civil servants who perform arduous jobs (known as “active class”) are no exception to the rule and will also see their starting age pushed back by two years. Concretely, firefighters, police officers or nurses will be able to claim their retirement rights at 54 or 59 years old depending on the profession exercised, against 52 and 57 years old currently.
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On the other hand, the duration of exercise of these difficult trades does not change: it will always be necessary to work at least 17 or 27 years, according to the professions of active category, to have the right to retire earlier than the legal age.
According to government figures, in 2021, the average retirement age was 62.5 for state and territorial civil servants, and just over 61 in the public hospital service.
- The return of a progressive retirement system
More than ten years after the abolition of the progressive cessation of activity, the government announced the return of a progressive retirement system in the civil service, “on the same principles as the existing system for employees and the self-employed”, according to a government press kit.
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We will allow public servants “to go part-time two years before the retirement age”or from the age of 62, said Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.
Until now, civil servants in the active category who changed jobs during their career lost the right to early retirement obtained because of the difficulty of their job.
From now on, “the benefit of years of service” in a difficult job will be “definitively acquired, regardless of professional development” of the agents concerned, insisted the Minister of Public Service Stanislas Guerini on Tuesday evening.
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For example, a prison guard or a police officer who chooses to retrain for a less physically demanding job can end his career at age 54, provided he has practiced the profession exposed to hardship for a long enough time.
There remains, however, a major element of stability: the amount of civil servants’ pensions will continue to be calculated on the basis of the salary (salary excluding bonuses) received by the agent during the last six months of his career.
