Pensions Act makes pension reform concrete
On 12 December 2025, the Council of Ministers reached agreement in the second reading on the draft Pension Act, which will implement the announced pension reform. The agreement is yet to be discussed further in parliament and officially published in the Official Gazette.
Read below what this reform specifically means for your end-of-career policy.
Measures with knock-on effects in all schemes
Bonus-malus (reward-penalty): working longer is rewarded
A new bonus-malus system would come into effect from 2026. Employees who continue working past the statutory retirement age accrue additional pension (reward). Those who stop earlier see their pension reduced (penalty).
This system replaces the current pension bonus that already applies today when working beyond the early retirement age. The pension amount will be increased or decreased proportionally based on the year of birth.
Employees who can demonstrate 35 years of service with at least 156 days actually worked per year, and a total of 7,020 days actually worked over their entire career, would build up the pension bonus if they continue working and avoid the pension penalty if they retire early. For the pension penalty, days of sickness and disability also count as days worked.
In addition, each employee has a balance of five days to bring their service years up to 156 days (for example, adding one day per year for five years, or adding all five days to a single year).
The penalty applies to pensions starting from 1 January 2027. The bonus can be accrued from 1 January 2026.
Stricter conditions for early retirement
The statutory retirement age has been 66 since 2025 and is set to increase to 67 by 2030. At that age, an employee can leave the labour market, regardless of the length of their career.
In addition, early retirement is still possible, on the condition that both a minimum age and a career-length requirement are met. Today, for example, an employee can:
- retire at 63 with a pension after 42 years of service;
- at 61 after 43 years of service;
- or at 60 after 44 years of service.
A year of service currently counts from 104 days worked (or equivalent).
From 2027, this system would change significantly:
- a year of service will only count from 156 days worked (or equivalent);
- a threshold of 104 days remains in place for the first year of employment;
- here too, a balance of five days applies to top up the years of service.
Furthermore, there will be a new option allowing early retirement at 60 after 42 years of service, with a year only counting from 234 days worked (or equivalent). For these 234 days, stricter rules around equivalencies apply.
Employees who qualify for early retirement in 2025 or 2026 under the current conditions will retain those conditions even if they actually retire in 2027 or later.
New working condition as a common thread
The reform introduces a new working condition: to qualify for early retirement, avoid the pension penalty or receive the minimum pension, an employee will have to demonstrate a specific number of days worked.
Sickness and disability hereby remain fully equivalent for:
- achieving the 156 days as part of the pension penalty;
- and entitlement to the minimum pension.
Measures with a knock-on effect on the civil service pension
Reference salary for the civil service pension
Today, the pension for civil servants is calculated based on the average salary of the last 10 years. The government wants to move towards a calculation over 45 years, as is the case for employees.
Specifically, for pensions starting from 1 January 2027, the staff member's date of birth will be taken into account. For those born in 1963 or later, the period will be extended gradually. Civil servants born in 1997 or later will have a reference period of 45 years.
Abolition of equalisation
The equalisation system, under which current civil service pensions rise in line with the pay of active civil servants, is to be abolished. Instead, civil service pensions will evolve through the 'welfare envelope', just as they do for employees and the self-employed.
Abolition of pension due to medical incapacity
From 1 April 2026, it will no longer be possible to claim a pension due to medical incapacity. As the pension begins on the first day of the month after the end of service, pensions for medical incapacity will no longer be awarded after 28 February.
Acceptability of pre-retirement transition leave (PRTL) and landing positions in the public sector
Some civil servants are able to take advantage of a particular end-of-career scheme in the years just before retirement, allowing them to reduce their working hours or stop working entirely. Nevertheless, under specific conditions, these non-working days are currently counted as days worked for the purposes of calculating the pension. From 2027, such schemes will only count for a period of two years.
Acceptability will also become stricter for periods of career breaks, leave or other absences: from 1 January 2027, only periods of care leave or training leave will be counted. Even in such cases, these periods will only be recognised for pension purposes for a maximum of 24 months full-time or 48 months part-time.
Measures for specific staff categories
Increase of the retirement age for military personnel and HR Rail (NMBS) rolling stock staff
Currently, military personnel and HR Rail (NMBS) rolling stock staff can retire early. The retirement age will be gradually increased until it is in line with the age and career-length requirements applicable to other employees.
Abolishment of preferential treatment for career breaks for service performed from 2027 onwards
Some civil servants benefit from a preferential scheme when calculating their pension. That scheme uses the 'career breaks' or 'tantièmes'. From 2027, service will no longer be calculated using the preferential career break rates (e.g., 1/50 or 1/55), but instead using the 1/60 rate. This ensures that, from 2027, years of service are calculated in the same way as for other civil servants and employees. Nothing changes for previous years of service.
The accrual coefficient, which allows the required number of service years to be reached more quickly, will also be set to 1 from 2027. Only teaching staff (excluding higher education) and active services such as fire services and police will retain a separate accrual coefficient. However, this will also be gradually reduced to 1.025 by 2031.
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