Basic retirement of an employee: what difference between the full rate and the maximum rate?
Verified 11 September 2023 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
Full-rate and maximum-rate pensions: you've heard about them but don't know exactly what they are? We'll explain the difference.
As a private sector employee, you receive a basic pension Social Security Pension Insurance, and a supplementary pension of theAgirc-Arco.
We are talking about full rates and maximum rates for the basic pension.
The Agirc-Arco supplementary pension is a point pension, meaning that your pension contributions are converted into pension points.
And when you retire, your pension points accumulated during your career are converted into a retirement pension.
Your Agirc-Arco supplementary retirement pension is reduced or increased temporarily or permanently depending on the age at which you apply for it and whether or not you are receiving a basic pension at a full rate.
A full-rate pension is a pension granted without discount.
The basic pension of the Social Security Pension Insurance is granted to you at full rate in two cases:
- You retire before age 67 by having a specified number of quarters of pension insurance, all regimes combined
- Or you retire at age 67, regardless of how many quarters of pension insurance you have
The number of quarters of pension insurance required to qualify for a full-rate pension varies depending on your year of birth.
You were born: | You can retire from: | Number of quarters required to have the full rate |
|---|---|---|
In 1956 or 1957 | 62 yrs | 166 (41 years 6 months) |
Between 1er January 1958 and December 31, 1960 | 62 yrs | 167 (41 years 9 months) |
Between 1er January 1961 and August 31, 1961 | 62 yrs | 168 (42 years) |
Between 1er September 1961 and December 31, 1961 | 62 years and 3 months | 169 (42 years 3 months) |
1962 | 62 years and 6 months | 169 (42 years 3 months) |
1963 | 62 years and 9 months | 170 (42 years 6 months) |
1964 | 63 yrs | 171 (42 years 9 months) |
1965 | 63 years and 3 months | 172 (43 years) |
1966 | 63 years and 6 months | 172 (43 years) |
1967 | 63 years and 9 months | 172 (43 years) |
From 1er january 1968 | 64 yrs | 172 (43 years) |
If you retire before age 67 without the required number of quarters of pension insurance to qualify for a full rate pension, your pension amount is reduced based on the number of quarters you are missing.
This reduction is called discount.
FYI
If you have the necessary number of quarters but spread over different basic schemes, your basic Social Security Pension Insurance pension is calculated based on the number of quarters you have in that scheme. Your other pensions are too, but you don't have a discount.
You can have a full rate pension and not have a pension at the maximum possible rate.
The amount of your basic Social Security Pension Insurance pension depends on the average of your gross earnings over your best 25 years.
But it also depends on how many quarters your Pension Insurance has validated.
Your full-rate retirement pension is calculated as follows:
Average gross annual salary x 50% x Your number of quarters validated by Pension Insurance / The number of quarters of pension insurance required to have a full rate pension
Example :
If you were born in 1962, to have a full-rate pension, you must either have 169 quarters or wait until you are 67.
If you retire before age 67 with 169 quarters of pension insurance with Pension Insurance, your full rate pension is equal to:
Average gross annual salary x 50% x 169 / 169
You have the maximum possible rate.
If you retire at age 67 with only 162 quarters, your retirement is equal to:
Average gross annual salary x 50% x 162 / 169
Your retirement is indeed a full rate pension no discount, but you are not collecting the maximum amount possible.
You can create a pension account on the official website Retirement Info.
On your pension account, the service My Retirement Estimate allows you to simulate your retirement amount at different starting ages.
This service offers you 2 ways to get a simulation of your pension amount:
- Or by directly accessing your estimate from data known to your pension funds
- Either by checking your situation and completing it, if necessary
The results indicate, for each starting age, the number of quarters and the possible monthly pension amount.
Amounts shown are gross, but net amounts before tax can be viewed.
For each proposed starting age, you can get the composition of your pension amount: for example, the amount of your basic pension and the amount of your supplementary pension.
You can simulate different starting ages than those proposed.
Once the results are displayed, you can go further in customizing by changing elements of your past situation (for example, periods to complete) or future situation (for example, the evolution of your index processing or a change in your activity rate).
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