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The contributory minimum:what is it? How is it calculated?

The contributory minimum:what is it? How is it calculated?

The minimum pension amount that a retiree can receive is called minimum contributory. This minimum contribution is intended for private sector employees, artist authors, public service contractors, traders, craftsmen and people under the religious system from the moment they are entitled to a full pension and that their pensions do not exceed an amount of 1,203.37 euros per month. The amount of the minimum contributory is calculated automatically for all those retirees who have retirement pensions below this ceiling.

The contributory minimum:a minimum pension amount

The contributory minimum designates a minimum amount of pension that retirees from the general social security system can receive. We are talking about the amount of the retirement pension paid at the full rate by the general social security system. In other words, with the minimum contribution, these employees have the assurance of not receiving too low a pension.

Indeed, private pensioners whose basic pension is lower than the contributory minimum see the amount of their pension compensated up to this contributory minimum.

The beneficiaries concerned by the minimum contributory are those who have received low income during their career or who have experienced several interruptions during their professional career resulting in low or zero income during these periods. More specifically, the minimum contributory address to a certain part of the assets:private sector employees, author artists, public service contract workers, traders and craftsmen and people under the religious system.

This minimum retirement pension also exists for other types of retirees but it has a different name:the guaranteed minimum for civil servants, the increase in small pensions for farmers and the minimum pension for employees of certain special schemes. /P>

The conditions for benefiting from the minimum contribution

To qualify for the minimum contribution, the private sector employees concerned must meet three conditions.

They must first be entitled to a basic retirement pension from the general scheme at the full rate (fixed at 50% of the average annual salary), i.e. fulfill an age or duration condition pension insurance (quarters) which varies according to the year of birth. For example, a pensioner born in 1973 and after benefits from a full pension if he has validated at least 172 quarters (i.e. 43 years); those born in 1955 must have at least 166 trimesters (41 years and 6 months), etc.

Then, to benefit from the contributory minimum, the pensioner concerned must have liquidated all his basic and supplementary pensions and the amount of all his retirement pensions must not precisely exceed 1,203.37 euros per month.

Calculation and amount of the minimum contribution

The amount of the minimum contribution allocated if the three conditions indicated above are met depends on the number of quarters contributed to the general social security scheme.

Retirees who benefit from the contributory minimum who have contributed less than 120 quarters during their professional life are entitled to payment of an amount of this minimum pension of 7,746.03 euros per year, or 645.50 euros per month.

Those who have contributed 120 quarters or more to the general Social Security system receive a minimum contributory amount of 8,464.28 euros per year (705.36 euros) per month.

Namely:the amount of the minimum contributory is revised downwards when a retiree does not have enough quarters to have a full pension. This amount is then calculated in proportion to his duration of insurance under the general pension scheme.

In all cases, the combined retirement pension/contributory minimum must not exceed the ceiling required for the amount of retirement pensions received to be entitled to the minimum contribution, i.e. 1,203.37 euros per month.