We often believe that leaving working life before the age of 62 is a fantasy. However, a mechanism provided for in the texts allows certain people to advance this age to 57 years.
In discussions on pension reform, everything revolves around the number of quarters, the pivotal age, long careers or arduousness. We talk much less about a lever accessible to a certain category of people. And for good reason: this mechanism is not particularly advantageous for the funds, nor very attractive for the majority of policyholders. As a result, it remains in the blind spot of the general public.
This system concerns the Agirc-Arrco supplementary pension, which only applies to employees in the private sector. According to Agirc-Arrco, only policyholders who have contributed to this plan can request payment of their supplementary pension from the age of 57, even if the basic pension has not yet been paid. Anyone who has contributed to this fund can therefore request this payment, whether they are still working, unemployed or in a situation of reduced activity. On the other hand, the amount paid no longer has anything to do with the estimate displayed at the legal age.
Indeed, according to Service-Public.fr, when the supplementary pension is paid before the conditions of the full rate are met, a reduction coefficient applies depending on the age of the insured. In other words, the earlier the departure, the greater the discount. The scales published by Agirc-Arrco show that this reduction can be very significant when liquidation occurs several years before the full rate age. The principle is simple: the fund agrees to pay the pension earlier, but it permanently reduces the amount to take into account a longer payment period.
Concretely, if an insured person starts receiving their supplementary pension at age 57, they will receive it for longer, but with a significant reduction. According to the scales published by Agirc-Arrco, the coefficient applicable to age 57 is 0.43, which corresponds to approximately 43% of the theoretical amount at full rate in the general case. This reduction is definitive: it does not disappear once the legal age is reached. It is therefore a choice that is committed to the long term.
This mechanism explains why the measure remains little publicized. Supplementary schemes must preserve their financial balance, and a massive early liquidation would weigh on the accounts. In fact, the significant discount deters a large proportion of policyholders. However, in certain situations (interruption of activity, lack of compensation, need for transitional income), this option can constitute a lever to be aware of. The approach remains classic. The insured must consult their points statement from their personal space in order to estimate the gross amount of their pension, then submit their request online or by paper file. Once the liquidation has been validated and the reduction accepted, the decision is final.
