The partial suspension of the pension reform voted in the Social Security financing law for 2026 reshuffles the cards for several generations. Preparing for retirement today requires mastering these new parameters, or risk delaying a departure by several months without a valid reason.
Freezing the legal age between 2026 and 2028: concrete effects by generation
The gradual increase to 64 years is put on hold starting from September 1, 2026 for all pensions taking effect on that date or later. Individuals born between 1964 and 1968 will have their legal age frozen between 62 years and 9 months and 63 years and 9 months depending on their year of birth, until January 1, 2028.
Those born between January 1 and March 31, 1965 are the main beneficiaries: they gain six months, moving from a legal age of 63 years and 3 months to 62 years and 9 months. For the 1966 to 1968 generations, the gain gradually decreases but remains significant in terms of saved contribution quarters.
We recommend that affected insured individuals immediately recalculate their expected retirement date on the Info Retraite retirement account. An updated individual situation statement before the end of 2026 allows for checking if the freeze alters the rights opening date, and thus the liquidation schedule. The retirement information on Le Journal du Senior details the impacts of this freeze on each cohort.
Progressive retirement at 60: an underutilized transition lever
A decree from July 23, 2025 lowers the access threshold to progressive retirement from 62 to 60 years, across all schemes, starting from September 1, 2025. Private sector employees, public service agents, and self-employed professionals can now reduce their activity while beginning to receive a portion of their pension.
The system remains underutilized. Many insured individuals are unaware that it allows for the combination of partial activity and partial pension without a reduction, provided they justify a minimum insurance duration. The transition to part-time must be formalized by an amendment to the employment contract, and the request submitted to each relevant pension fund.
Points of caution for long careers
The long career system interacts with progressive retirement in ways that can sometimes be unfavorable. After September 2026, an insured individual eligible for early departure due to a long career who opts for progressive retirement at 60 may find themselves forced to extend their activity by two years if the contribution quarter conditions are not met at the time of final liquidation.
We observe that checking the career statement quarter by quarter, distinguishing between contributed quarters and validated quarters (unemployment, illness), is the only way to avoid this trap. A missing quarter can push back the actual departure well beyond the initially projected date.
Retirement savings plan: balances and adjustments to monitor
The individual PER now concentrates an increasing share of retirement savings in France. The old Madelin and PERP contracts no longer collect, but their balances remain active and transferable to a PER.
- The 100% capital withdrawal from the PER at the time of liquidation is possible for the acquisition of the principal residence or upon retirement, but it triggers taxation at the progressive rate on the deductible portion.
- The annuity withdrawal secures a recurring income, with reduced taxation due to a 10% allowance on pensions.
- Transferring an old PERP to an individual PER may incur fees (up to 1% of the balance if the contract is less than ten years old), which should be weighed against the management flexibility of the PER.
The choice between capital and annuity depends on the marginal tax rate in the year of departure. An insured individual whose income drops significantly in the year of liquidation has an interest in withdrawing capital that year rather than spreading the annuity over years when their other taxable income might rise (such as rental income).
Verification of the career statement: errors that cost quarters
The individual situation statement (RIS) can be consulted at any time on the Info Retraite website. We recommend a complete review at least five years before the planned departure date, as the correction delays often exceed one year in case of an anomaly.
The most frequent errors concern three types of periods:
- Paid internships completed before 2014, often not reported by the employer to the competent fund.
- Periods of non-compensated unemployment, which entitle individuals to assimilated quarters under certain conditions, but whose reporting depends on the effective transmission between Pôle emploi (now France Travail) and the CNAV.
- Years of work abroad, outside the EU, for which bilateral social security agreements do not cover all countries or all periods.
Correction procedure
The request for rectification goes through the personal space of the Retirement Insurance. It is necessary to attach pay slips or employer certificates corresponding to the disputed periods. In the absence of supporting documents, the fund may reconstruct the career based on annual social data declarations (DADS), but these records do not always go back more than thirty years.
A corrected statement in advance especially avoids the most penalizing scenario: discovering a missing quarter after submitting the liquidation request, which can delay the first pension payment by several months.
The window opened by the freeze of the legal age until 2028 offers a useful respite to complete these verifications. For the 1964 to 1968 generations, this additional time is also an opportunity to validate any potential quarter buybacks at a still manageable cost, before parameters may potentially be revised upwards.