Federal government reaches agreement on pension reform, with one loose end

On Friday, the De Wever government reached a final agreement on the pension reform. One last loose end concerning part-time workers – mainly women – is still being examined before the vote in the Chamber.

The reform proposed by pensions minister Jan Jambon is one of the most important reforms of the De Wever government. The most striking measure is the so-called pension penalty, whereby anyone who takes early retirement without having worked enough, loses part of their pension.

One of the last issues the ministers had to address was a possible adjustment for part-time workers – mainly women – who have worked just too few days to be able to take early retirement without financial penalties.

In recent days, there have been reports in the media of women who, despite a long career, are still affected by the pension penalty if they want to retire before the age of 67. This is often because they have worked part-time for periods of time, with flexible working hours – something that women do more than men. This created the impression of a reform that could be discriminatory, a risk that the Council of State also warned about.

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The Flemish Christian Democrats of CD&V, in particular, wanted to do something for these part-time workers who, due to flexible working hours, for a number of years in their career fall below the number of 156 days worked per year. This annual number will be necessary in the future in order not to suffer a pension loss when retiring before the age of 67. According to the CD&V, it sometimes happens that a working day is not counted in the pension calculation because too few hours were worked on that day, even though it is quite possible that this was compensated for on another day.

The core cabinet has now agreed that pensions minister Jan Jambon will investigate the extent of the problem by 31 March and then come up with a solution.

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The CD&V also requested an increase in the number of “bad luck days” for people who fall just outside the working conditions for the pension penalty. For the time being, this number will remain at five.

The draft bill is now being prepared for submission to the King and then to Parliament. After the necessary discussions in the pensions committee of the Federal Parliament, the draft bill can be submitted to the plenary session of the Chamber for debate and vote.

^{Belgian pensions minister Jan Jambon © BELGA PHOTO JAMES ARTHUR GEKIERE}