Why will pensioners in France not receive 4% increase this month?
The measure formed part of a government bill aimed at protecting French spending power amid rising inflation, but its implementation has been delayed
The 15 million people in France set to see their basic pensions boosted by 4% will not see the rise until September
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France’s new spending power law (loi pouvoir d’achat) included a 4% rise for the basic of private-sector workers, but this will now not be paid in August as initially expected.
This is because the new law must still be examined by the Conseil constitutionnel – France’s highest constitutional power – after senators from the left-wing Nupes alliance appealed for the body’s judgement on a section of the legislation regarding the renationalisation of EDF.
Read more: EDF renationalisation plan: will it lower bills for users in France?
Therefore, the 15 million pensioners set to benefit from the increase to their régime général schemes will not receive it until September 9, when the payment for August is made.
However, the 4% boost should be applied retroactively to July as well.
It should be noted that this rise only concerns the retraite de base state pension; retraites complémentaires supplementing the basic pension are not managed by the state.
This latest increase comes after another 1.1% rise introduced in January, and also concerns the retraite de réversion paid to the spouse of a worker who died before accessing their pension, the allocation de solidarité aux personnes âgées (Aspa) and the allocation supplémentaire d’invalidité (ASI).
Although these pensions will have risen by 5.1% this year after the new increase comes into effect, this is still less than inflation, which reached 6.1% over a year in July, compared to 5.8% in June, according to a provisional estimation published by Insee.
This is the highest rate recorded since July 1985, the statistics institute stated.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has said that if inflation continues to rise, pension rates will be reviewed again in January 2023.
France’s spending power law was definitely adopted by Parliament on August 3.
The other measures included in the bill, such as a 3.5% increase for civil servant salary indexes and a 4% rise for certain social benefits, will also be applied retroactively to July.
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