Retirement pension

Minimum contribution: the revised monthly personal pension ceiling

Publié le 08 février 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Raising the Smic to 1er january 2024 results in a revision on the same date of the personal pension ceiling required to qualify for the minimum contribution. It is increased to €1,367.51 per month, an increase of €57.76. The combination of the basic pension and the supplementary pension may not exceed this ceiling. Your total pension is automatically brought into line with this new amount if you are entitled to the minimum contribution.

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Image 1Crédits: insta_photos - stock.adobe.com

The minimum contribution allows pensioners of the general Social Security Old Age Insurance scheme who have contributed on low wages to receive a minimum basic pension amount, called the minimum contribution. If your basic pension is lower, it is increased up to this minimum.

There are 3 scenarios:

  • You retire before the age of 67 with the number of quarters required to qualify for a full rate pension and all these quarters are paid into: the amount of your pension cannot be less than €10 513.61 gross per year, either €876.13 gross per month.
  • You retire before the age of 67 with the required number of quarters to qualify for a full-rate pension, but not all of these quarters are contributory:
    • if you have less 120 quarters contributed, the amount of your pension may not be less than €8,796.38 gross per year, or €733.03 gross per month;
    • if you have more 120 quarters contributed, the amount of €733.03 gross per month is increased based on the number of quarters you have contributed to your total quarters.

However, the allocation of this minimum contribution cannot increase the total of your retirement pensions (basic and supplementary, all schemes, french and foreigners) beyond the monthly personal pension limit.

This ceiling shall be revised on the same dates and under the same conditions as the Smic. The latest increase in the minimum wage to 1er january 2024 raised the personal pension limit to €1,367.51 per month against Previously €1,309.75, or an increase of €57.76.

Depending on your situation, your retirement can be automatically aligned to this new ceiling.

Example :

if you were born in 1962 and retire before the age of 67 with the 169 quarters required to qualify for a full rate pension but only 135 quarters contributed, the amount of your pension cannot be less than € 733.03 + [(€ 876.13 - € 733.03) x 135 / 169] = € 684.71 gross per month.

Please note

the minimum contribution should not be confused with Solidarity allowance for the elderly (Aspa) The Aspa and the minimum contribution are two quite distinct schemes, both in terms of their amounts and their conditions of allocation. And, unlike Aspa, the minimum contribution is not recoverable from the beneficiary’s estate.

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