Since 2017, the procedures for obtaining retirement pension payment have been simplified. A single request now allows you to trigger the liquidation of your pensions from all the plans to which you have contributed during your career. However, many policyholders – and not necessarily those who have had the most complicated careers – still struggle to assert their rights and obtain payment of their pension on time.
In 2022, almost a quarter of complaints concerning protection and social security received by the Defender of Rights (an independent administrative authority, responsible for respecting citizens' rights) concerned retirement pensions. And it is likely that the gradual implementation of the 2023 pension reform will not help things.
Blockages to rebuilding your career
Regardless of the plan(s) in which they contribute, policyholders can view information relating to their entire career by creating a personal account on the info-retraite.fr website, and download a statement there. This document is updated every year, almost in real time. It summarizes the rights (quarters and points) acquired by policyholders in all French basic and supplementary pension plans.
Accessible from their personal account, the service entitled “Correct my career” allows them to report oversights and errors they notice, to have them rectified. This service is available from the age of 55, but it is possible to make a request for correction before this age, by mail, by contacting your pension fund directly. It seems wise to correct errors as soon as possible, when you have the supporting documents in hand, rather than waiting until the last minute with the risk of not finding them.
Our advices
1- Favor the single online request:
You can make a single request, for your personal pension as well as for survivorship rights, on the info-retraite.fr website. You will not have to file a separate request with each fund to which you have contributed. This eliminates the risk of forgetting one.
2- Do not delay your departure unnecessarily:
Do not wait for missing periods to be recorded on your career statement to request your retirement. Your pension will be due from this date even if the fund cannot yet calculate it.
3- Immediately justify the rights acquired in the year of your departure:
If you accept a provisional payment because the fund could not calculate the exact amount of your retirement (it was not aware of the rights acquired during your last year of work, for example), send the necessary supporting documents before she asks you for them.
4- Regularize your career within 5 years:
If you realize, once retired, that a career element has not been taken into account (military service, period abroad, etc.), be aware that your pension may be revised (even if the 2-month deadline for contacting the amicable appeal committee has passed). You have 5 years to obtain payment of what should have been paid to you.
This approach should also, logically, make it possible to shorten the processing times for retirement application files when the day comes. But that's not the case.
“These requests are not a priority. The funds first manage the liquidation files
,” explains Louis Duplay, director of the specialized firm Sud Ouest Conseil Retraite. Result ? Requests for rectification are rarely successful, as Thierry G. testifies: “
It has been 20 months since I requested career rectification, without any response.
» Ditto for Éva N., who regrets not having any visibility on the amount of her future retirement, nor on a possible progressive retirement: “
I made a request for regularization in 2018. I received at the beginning of October 2023 a letter telling me that the regularization of my career was now complete. However, on the statement attached to this letter, the periods from 2012 to 2018 are still missing
.” Same lack of response for Christophe G., who hesitates to submit his retirement liquidation file until his career has been reconstituted. Wrongly, this step is not a necessary prerequisite since the fund will necessarily have to do it when it processes the retirement request. You still have to know it and know the solution.
“
To force the career update of my clients, I am requesting the redemption of quarters. This forces the fund to investigate and leads it to reconstruct the career of the insured to determine the number of quarters that the insured can buy back
,” confides Louis Duplay. The expert even goes so far as to ask to liquidate the basic pension, even if his client has not yet made the decision to leave, “
to force the integration of the quarters completed abroad, even if it means canceling his request afterwards
,” he explains.
A persistent lack of communication
Some 800,000 files are processed each year. According to a survey carried out by Retirement Insurance, 89% of new retirees say they are satisfied with all the contacts with their pension fund, the information given and the help provided. However, it is a feeling of dissatisfaction that predominates in almost all of the testimonies that we have studied: those collected from our readers, but also those gleaned from the Services Publics + site (plus.transformation.gouv.fr), through which users can express their appreciation of the digital tools offered by public services. The experiences described are also those of the retirement consultancy firms that we contacted (Novelvy, Sapiendo, Origami & Co, Sud Ouest Conseil Retraite, etc.).
At the top of the complaints, policyholders deplore the lack of visibility and information on the progress of their file, the impossibility of speaking face to face with the person handling it or making an appointment. Several witnesses thus received letters from their fund announcing that their retirement request had been canceled because they had not returned the required documents on time, even though they had rushed to do so.
One in 5 files is processed late
The delay in processing files is another widely shared cause of dissatisfaction. The Pension Insurance services that we interviewed told us that processing times had been reduced from 120 to 70 days between 2017 and 2023. However, the 2022 report from the Pension Insurance Ombudsman indicates that processing times files are still, along with the calculation of the pension, the main reasons for referral to the mediator.
“
In total, nearly 15% of all files currently being processed under the general system are late in payment
,” noted MP Mélanie Thomin during her hearing on February 14 before the Commission of Social affairs of the National Assembly. A very underestimated figure, according to the unions. They estimate that one in 5 files would be affected by these delays and that things should not improve. In question ? The continued decline in staff numbers (6% fewer agents on permanent contracts between 2012 and 2022) while the number of files continues to increase (+ 3% per year, due to the grandpa boom). The complexity of the files and the rules for calculating pensions are all aggravating factors. Careers are less and less linear, interspersed with periods of unemployment or expatriation, and insured people depend more often than before on several schemes.
Departure or retirement: what difference does it make?
Before age 67, your employer does not have the right to retire you. If you wish to leave before this age, you must take the initiative in your departure and respect a notice period. It is only from the age of 70 that your employer can declare your retirement, without having to ask your opinion. Between the ages of 67 and 70, he can retire you, but only if you agree to leave. It is also in your interest that the initiative comes from him: to encourage employees to delay their departure, the amount of retirement compensation provided for by law is higher than that of the compensation departure, when requested by the employee. Your collective agreement may nevertheless provide for more advantageous provisions.
Furthermore, the tax regime for retirement compensation is much more favorable. It is tax-exempt in most cases (only very large amounts are subject to it) while retirement compensation is taxable under the same conditions as your salary.
However, since September 1, 2015, there has been a system which guarantees policyholders to receive their pension on the date they indicated in their request. To do this, they must submit a “complete” file at least 4 months before the desired date, even if some elements are missing from the fund to calculate their retirement. The pension is then paid provisionally, and is recalculated upon receipt of the missing documents. Although this practice is not governed by any legislative or regulatory text, most funds now make these provisional payments. This practice, which only concerned 13.5% of files in 2021, represented 20% of files in 2023.
Additional proof, if any were needed, of the deterioration in file processing times. As of December 31, 2023, 25,313 policyholders among the 290,000 eligible for this guarantee were still waiting for their pension to be paid by Retirement Insurance, even though they had already ceased their activity.
Multiple sources of errors
There are many potential sources of error. There is of course the calculation of the insurance period used for the full rate. An insured thus received two retirement notifications written by the same person, a few months apart. The first mentioned an insurance duration of 153 quarters, the second of 140 quarters. No explanation was given to him to justify this. Also giving cause for discussion is the taking into account of “the best 25 years” or the allocation of the increased duration of insurance for children.
Among the other recurring hiccups are, prominently, the quarters of uncompensated unemployment which immediately follow compensated unemployment. These periods, although not compensated, are in fact automatically retained for the calculation of the insurance duration, within the limit of one year (4 quarters). If you were at least 55 years old on the date you ceased to be compensated, this one-year limit is increased to 5 years, provided that you have contributed to your retirement (all basic plans combined) for at least at least 20 years old and you are not covered by another pension plan. Clearly, if you have reached the end of your rights after the age of 55 and have not found work, you can claim 5 years validated for free, which can allow you to obtain your full retirement pension.
Retirement is being prepared, have the right reflexes
Throughout your career:
throughout your professional life, it is essential to keep the originals of all documents proving that you contribute to your retirement: pay slips, social security daily allowance statements, retirement statements. unemployment benefits.
From 50 years old:
create your account on the info-retraite.fr website. Upload career records regularly to keep a historical record. It happens that certain periods are missing on the latest statements even though they appeared on the previous ones.
From the age of 55
: do not hesitate to regularly carry out simulations: your pension estimates become more reliable as you approach retirement age. Also check if you can leave at age 58, 60, 62 or 63, as part of early retirement for a long career.
From the age of 61
: consider switching to part-time from the age of 62, as part of progressive retirement, and the opportunity to buy back quarters. Please note, to benefit from both schemes, you must first make the buyout and then switch to gradual retirement. Otherwise you will no longer be able to buy back quarters once your pension is partially liquidated.
From age 63.5
: submit your retirement request, at the latest 6 months before the desired departure date, if you are in the civil service, and 4 months before, if you have worked in the private sector.
This is taken into account when rebuilding your career, knowing that these free quarters will only be granted to you if you need them to complete your insurance period and thus benefit from the full rate. “
Even though I met all the conditions to benefit from these 5 additional years, the fund automatically allocated me only one quarter for uncompensated unemployment
,” declares Christophe M. Fortunately for him, Christophe knew the existence of this system reserved for seniors. “
Otherwise I would have accepted the proposed retirement notification, with a significant discount given the 4 missing years
,” he emphasizes.
The nightmare of gradual retirement
Another thorny subject is that of gradual retirement. We have received numerous testimonies on this theme, particularly when the system was opened, in January 2022, to employees on a “reduced” day package (executives whose working hours are fixed in number of days worked in the year ) and to directors of companies covered by the employees' regime. Due to the lack of an application circular, the files of policyholders wishing to benefit from it were blocked for many months by the funds.
For several years, the Retirement Insurance Ombudsman has also highlighted the difficulty of moving from progressive retirement to permanent retirement. In his latest report, he regrets a
“long processing time, which leads to significant reductions in resources upon cessation of activity, which are not immediately compensated by the payment of the pension in its entirety”
.
Survivor’s pensions also raise difficulties
Widows and widowers also experience various dysfunctions, including abnormally long processing times to receive their deceased spouse's survivor's pension: “My mother has been waiting for the payment of her survivor's pension for 20 months. We have received no response despite several reminders. She only receives €460 of personal pension”, testifies Valérie P. Survivor’s pensions also benefit from the guarantee of payment within 4 months of the request
(circ. Cnav n° 2016-40 of 1.9.16).
Numerous testimonies also report "abusive" refusals of allocation for exceeding the income ceiling, the payment of the survivor's pension by the basic system being subject to resource conditions. They deplore the fact that no information is given on the methods for calculating this excess. Although the notice on the pension application form lists the resources taken into account, this is not enough to shed light on them. Most of these policyholders contacted the amicable appeal commission (CRA), without obtaining a response.
A mishap that Frédéric I., one of our readers, who went into gradual retirement in 2020, would have been fine without:
“When I retired definitively, 2 years later, I had the unpleasant surprise of realizing that the fund had not taken into account the additional quarters that I had acquired during these 2 years. I have been fighting for over a year to get them taken into account. During this time, I only receive half of my pension. »
Questioned by us, the Retirement Insurance services recognize that the funds did not have, until now, the tools adapted to the management of these files, but that things should now quickly return to order. It remains to be seen whether retirees will have the same criteria for assessing speed as the funds.
A silent appeals commission
If policyholders do not agree with the calculation elements used in their retirement notification, they have 2 months to contact the amicable appeal commission (CRA), by mail or by e-mail. First, their fund will send them a written explanation. If this does not satisfy them, they will have to send a new letter to the CRA. It is only then that their complaint will be transmitted to it and the commission will examine their request. She will have 2 months to examine the files. The absence of a response within this period constitutes implicit rejection, and authorizes the insured to take the matter to court. But Retirement Insurance recommends waiting for the CRA's decision before initiating litigation
(circ. no. 2018-30 of 12/20/18).
Use all avenues of appeal available to you
The amicable appeal commission (CRA), which allows you to challenge the elements of calculation of your pension, is not the only contact you can turn to. You can also file a complaint with your fund if you are not satisfied with the processing time of your file. This process can be carried out online from your personal space. If the response to your complaint (or that provided after referral to the CRA) does not suit you, call your fund's mediator. You have 10 days to enter it when it is an urgent complaint (resource shortage, effective date has passed), 40 days for a non-urgent complaint (extended to 90 days if it requires the intervention of several services) and 2 months for a dispute with the CRA. If your efforts are unsuccessful, you can still contact the Defender of Rights and submit your file to him.
This is often where the problem lies. Because it appears that the commission can take several months before examining a file, and even that it can make no return. “
I contacted the CRA in February 2022,
testifies Christophe M.
In April, I was informed that the CRA was too busy to examine my file then, in September, that my request could not be successful. I sent a letter back, and finally won my case in early 2023. For more than 11 months, I only received part of what I was entitled to, even though my request was well-founded. »