Like all employees in the private sector, non-permanent agents of the State and public authorities depend for their basic pension on the general social security system (Cnav). With regard to their supplementary pensions, they are attached to the Supplementary Pension Institution for Non-Permanent Agents of the State and Public Communities (Ircantec), a so-called point-based pension scheme.
The Supplementary Pension Institution for Non-Permanent State and Public Authority Agents (Ircantec) is a pension scheme which was created by a decree of December 1970 in order to offer employees who do not have the status of civil servant but who are employed by the State or a public authority, to benefit from a supplementary pension scheme which is added to their basic Social Security pension scheme, i.e. the National Insurance Fund old age (retirement insurance).
Ircantec is a supplementary pension scheme based on the pay-as-you-go principle:the contributions of active workers finance the pensions of retirees. The amount of the latter is fixed according to a points scheme.
All those who work in the public sector (State, regional and hospital civil service) as non-tenured persons, such as contract workers, temporary workers, etc., must contribute to Ircantec. These agents may or may not have executive status. It is possible to contribute to this supplementary pension scheme from the age of 16 and as long as the beneficiaries are active under the same status conditions.
Ircantec also concerns agents recruited in the public sector in the form of a subsidized employment contract, non-full-time tenured staff and those without the right to a retirement pension, members of the government (ministers and secretaries of state) , hospital practitioners, and local elected officials. In total, nearly 3 million workers contribute to Ircantec (2017 data).
Non-permanent State and local government employees who obtain their basic pension at the full rate can receive their supplementary pension paid by Ircantec. Those who have reached the legal age limit for activity (between 65 and 67 years old) are also in this case, as well as agents who benefit from early retirement from Social Security for a long career, for hardship, in as a disabled worker, or for disability, or those who are authorized to take progressive retirement from Social Security, that is to say who carry out one or more part-time activities in parallel with their retirement.
Non-tenured public sector employees who do not meet these conditions will see their supplementary retirement pension subject to a discount (reduced number of points).
On the death of a non-tenured public sector employee, his spouse can benefit from half of his Ircantec supplementary pension, in principle if he has reached the age of at least 50.
The Ircantec supplementary pension plan is a points-based plan. When non-established State and public authority employees are affiliated to Ircantec, their contributions, but also those paid by their employer (employer's contributions), are converted into points which have a value in euros (5.028 euros in 2021), also called “reference salary”, revalued every year. These points are accumulated on what is called an individual "points account" which each agent can consult on his personal space available online.
The amount of this supplementary pension is then calculated by multiplying the number of points acquired by the value of the point at the time of retirement. Depending on the number of points acquired, the method of calculation differs, as well as the periodicity of payment of the pension (per month, per quarter, per year or all at once in the form of capital).
The number of points acquired is increased if the agent has had at least 3 children (+ 10% for 3 children, and up to + 30% for 7 children and more), if he continues to work while fulfilling the insurance condition required to benefit from a full retirement pension (+ 0.625%), or if he is authorized to work beyond the legal age limit (+ 0.75% per quarter worked between the age limit and the retirement age).
Note: certain periods not worked are taken into account for the calculation of the Ircantec supplementary retirement pension and give entitlement to the allocation of free points. This may include, among other things, periods of sick leave, maternity leave or adoption leave compensated by Social Security for at least 30 consecutive days, receipt of a pension for an accident at work or occupational disease corresponding to a rate of incapacity of at least 2/3, partial unemployment, interruption of any professional activity to raise at least one child (if the agent has at least one year of affiliation to Ircantec).
