Retirement: what could soon change for parents

A calculation so complex that it leads to inequalities! The pension plan attributed to parents is not easy to understand, says Capital. In the annual report on the application of the Social Security financing laws, published on Tuesday, October 4, 2022, an inventory of family rights is carried out. Alas, this one is not necessarily positive. The regime cited above appears to be suffocated by inequality.

The principle is simple, however. When one of the parents retires, the amount of the pension is calculated according to the number of children. Quarter increases are then allocated, whether for birth or education.

In all, 9 million retirees benefit from it, which represents a budget of 20 billion euros per year. However, the system is very unequal…

The Court of Auditors explains in its report that: “The objectives assigned to family pension rights appear dated and not always explicit”. In other words, the regime is not adapted to the reality of the impact of a child or children on a career.

Moreover, the complexity inherent in the organization of the system often leads to preventing the increase of pensions. “In this case, poor knowledge of their rights can lead retirees not to ask their funds for the payment of the increase” she indicates.

Finally, it turned out that some measures were useless: no effect was felt on the amount of the pension. This was the case, for example, of the National Old Age Insurance Fund in 2019, where a third of the beneficiaries had had no change in their retirement.

The Court also explains what should be done to rectify the regime… And this requires an increase in pensions!

According to the magistrates of the Court of Auditors, certain devices must be corrected. The watchword of the institution is harmonization.

This is the case, for example, of the increase in the duration of insurance. They would like this mechanism to be aligned between public and private. Objective: to allocate two trimesters for maternity regardless of the sector.

In addition, “The allocation of trimesters for education should be individualized by parent” explains the Court, which would like to add the liberal professions in the device… Two harmonization measures are also to be carried out to simplify the rights to the retirement.

Two steps must then lead to this hoped-for harmonization. First, the rate of increase for children must be “up to 10% regardless of the number of children beyond three”. Then, there should be a 5% increase in the pensions granted to mothers for each child and for all the basic and supplementary schemes.

The reform creating a universal pension scheme, abandoned in 2020, already offered these increases. If it were to be voted on this year, the first effects could be seen… From 2045.