To retire, you must reach a minimum age which depends on your date of birth. The amount of the pension received by retirees is determined by the length of their professional career, and in particular by the number of quarters acquired, which also varies according to their year of birth. The more income you receive during your working life, the higher your retirement pension. What about those who have had low incomes or who have had a chaotic career path that does not allow them to reach the required number of terms? The French basic pension system provides for people in this case the payment, under certain conditions, of a pension which cannot be less than a minimum amount. There is talk of a minimum contribution for employees, a guaranteed minimum for civil servants, an increase in small pensions for farmers, or even a minimum pension for employees of certain special schemes.
The general social security system provides for the payment of a basic pension to all workers who depend on this system:the minimum contributory. These are salaried retirees, artist authors and public service contractors, people who come under the religious system and craftsmen-traders.
The amount of this basic retirement pension depends on the retirement age and the number of quarters acquired by these assets during their professional career. However, the general Social Security system provides that the amount of this pension cannot be less than a certain amount, called the minimum contributory.
To benefit from this minimum retirement pension, the workers concerned must fulfill 3 conditions. They must first be entitled to a basic retirement pension from the general scheme at the full rate (the amount of which is set at 50% of their average annual salary), subject to a condition of age or duration of insurance retirement, i.e. the number of quarters earned. Then, they must have liquidated their basic and supplementary pensions. Finally, the workers possibly concerned by the minimum contribution must not receive an amount of pensions (basic and additional combined) greater than €1,203.37 per month. This ceiling must also not be exceeded once the minimum contribution has been paid.
The amount of the minimum contributory varies according to the number of quarters contributed to the general social security scheme:
Note:the retirees affected by the minimum contribution are also those who have not contributed enough quarters to be entitled to a pension at the full rate. In this case, the amount of the minimum pension to which they are entitled is reduced in proportion to their duration of insurance under the general scheme.
In all cases, the calculation that determines whether a retiree is eligible for the minimum contribution is done automatically when calculating his retirement.
As in the private sector, retired civil servants are also entitled to a minimum retirement pension amount known as the guaranteed minimum. If their basic retirement pension is lower than this minimum, its amount is automatically increased to reach this guaranteed minimum.
To benefit from this minimum pension amount, civil servants must meet one or other of these conditions:show proof of the number of quarters of insurance required to benefit from a full-rate pension (have reached a number of quarters of pension insurance or the required age, elements which vary according to the year of birth and the category to which the civil servant belongs, sedentary or active); have reached the age limit for activity; have reached the age of cancellation of the discount (reduction of the retirement pension if civil servants retire before the required age without having the number of quarters of old-age insurance required to obtain a full pension); be admitted to retirement for disability, as the parent of a disabled child, as a civil servant disabled at least 50%, or for infirmity or incurable disease.
For civil servants, the amount of the guaranteed minimum depends on their number of years of service:
A majority of farmers, i.e. self-employed farmers, are among the retirees whose pensions are the lowest in France. A recently passed law provides that their pension can no longer be less than 85% of the minimum wage, i.e. a minimum amount of around €1,000. The amount of their minimum pension was previously set at 75% of the minimum wage.
To benefit from this measure, farmers must have a full career, i.e. have validated the number of quarters sufficient to benefit from a full pension.
Certain employees who depend on special retirement schemes may also benefit from minimum retirement pensions. A measure also applied by some supplementary pensions.
