The new revaluation that awaits retirees

Will revalue, will not revalue? Since the strange battle of amendments that took place at the Bourbon Palace, the question of the amount of retirement pensions appears more tense than ever. And for good reason ! The government, after committing to protect policyholders from inflation with the help of a 4% increase in their income from the general scheme, made sure to have the proposal of Charles de Courson, deputy belonging to the Libertés, independents, overseas and territories group, which provided for a further increase in pensions amounting to 500 million euros. The amendment had also been adopted by the Assembly, after a complex vote. It was later invalidated by a Second Amendment.

To explain such an exchange, the executive put forward several reasons, as Planet recently reported. One of them is enough to reassure worried retirees, who know that the revaluation initially planned may not be enough to protect their purchasing power. And for good reason ! The Minister of Economy has promised a further increase in pensions. That, however, won’t happen for a while, says Capital.

Every year, as provided for by the Social Security Code, retirement pensions are revalued on the basis of a precise calculation. The latter takes into account the average price index over a first period covering from November (n-2) to the following October (n-1) and a second, shifted by one year.

The revaluation in question always occurs on January 1, 2023. Therefore, this means that the periods taken into account will run from November 2020 to October 2021 as well as from November 2021 to October 2022. Which is not necessarily a good sign for retirees…

Unfortunately for retirees, continues Capital, this calculation may not be very favorable to them given the current inflationary environment. In the first period mentioned, inflation was still low, which could reduce the amount of the revaluation decided in January. On average, you actually have to deal with a lag of about two years.

This is precisely what worries Charles de Courson, the deputy behind the amendment providing for another increase in retirement pensions. “The purpose of this amendment was for the government to clarify its position on the upgrade to next January 1. The 4% that we voted for were presented by the government as a possible advance on the increase in pensions traditionally planned each January 1”, he explained, as the monthly recalls.

If the National Assembly did an about-face concerning the increase of 500 million euros for retirement pensions, it is not only because of the cost of such a measure. Nor is it just a question of timing, as the right-wing defector insisted. The amendment proposed by Charles de Courson posed, according to Bruno Le Maire, several problems.

And for good reason ! This plans to finance the progression of pensions “by deducting the sums from the civil and military retirement pensions of the State”. A choice that the minister considers unfair, in addition to being “useless given the revaluation of 2023”, indicates Previssima.