Launch estimate earliest retirement date for people over 60 on mypension.be: explanation

The estimate of the earliest retirement date will be re-launched on mypension.be for those over 60. We are aware that a lot of civilians kept their ‘old’ estimate on the basis of the previous rules. For that reason, we will briefly set out which situations can occur and why.

But first, we will recapitulate the early retirement rules and the way in which mypension.be uses these to make an estimate of the earliest retirement date.

• Early retirement rules
  • Same rules, different interpretation for specific groups of civil servants
  • New rules for soldiers and HR Rail driving staff
  • Transitional measure for civilians born in or before 1966
• How does the estimate on mypension.be work?
• Three possible scenarios for the new earliest retirement date: the same, early or postponed

Early retirement rules

The earliest retirement date is determined by a combination of age and career conditions.

Minimum age and the corresponding career duration on the date on which you can retire early:

• 60 years and 44 carreer years
• 61 years and 43 carreer years
• 62 years and 43 carreer years
• 63 years and 42 carreer years
• 64 years and 42 carreer years
• 65 years and 42 carreer years

The Arizona reform changes the career condition:

• It doesn't impact the number of years you should prove
• But it does impact the number of days you should prove, namely 156 days per year (instead of the previous 104 days a year)

The reform also provides for:

• An exception for the first career year, which can still count 104 days
• 5 spare days to supplement years that exceptionally fall just short of the 156-day limit
• Balance days for civilians who have worked half-time with fluctuating schedules

Lastly, a new option for early retirement will be introduced as of 1.1.2027: from the age of 60 after a career of at least 42 years of at least 234 effectively worked days each. For this new option, only a very limited selection of assimilated days will be taken into account. Find out more at https://www.sfpd.fgov.be/en/changes/pension-reform.

Same rules, different interpretation for specific groups of civil servants

Civil servants fall under the same early retirement rules as described above. But as of 2027, the reform changes the way in which the career is taken into account for the early retirement for specific groups of civil servants.

This will be the case for civil servants whose increase coefficient is cancelled or reduced.

Thanks to the increase coefficient, a year counts for more than one year in the early retirement calculation. This entails that these groups of civil servants qualify sooner for early retirement. For example: a person who has worked for 40 years and who has an increase coefficient of 1.05, has already built up 42 career years (40 x 1.05). The cancellation of the increase coefficient means that this advantage is lost. For the groups who retain the increase coefficient but for whom it is gradually reduced, the advantage diminishes.

As of 2027, the increase coefficient will be discontinued for nearly all civil servants. Only for the education staff (excluding higher education staff), active services, the fire brigade and police will the increase coefficient gradually be reduced from 1.05 to 1.025 in 2031.

For certain leave schemes, the assimilation for the early retirement will change for periods from 2027 onwards. These periods will no longer be taken into account for the early retirement career condition. If a civil servant finds himself in such a leave scheme and retains it, this will impact his earliest retirement date.

New rules for soldiers and HR Rail driving staff

Until today, soldiers and the HR Rail driving staff had a privileged retirement age of 56 and 55 respectively. As of 2027, this age will gradually be raised, with the aim of also making soldiers (year of birth 1981 and later) and the HR Rail driving staff (as of 1.2.2038) fall under the general early retirement rules.

Transitional measure for civilians born in or before 1966

For civilians who find themselves very close to their retirements, transitional measures have been provided to mitigate the potential effect of the new retirement rules.

• Civilians born before 1966 (61 years or over in 2026) will be able to retire at most one year later than before the reform.
• Civilians born in 1966 (60 years in 2026) will be able to retire at most two years later than before the reform.

Civilians who already meet the early retirement conditions in (or before) 2026, retain their entitlement to early retirement, even if they retire after 2026. This group will also still see the earliest retirement date and the pension amount on mypension.be in accordance with the old rules.

How does the estimate on mypension.be work?

To provide the civilian with a better view of when he can retire on mypension.be, we must apply the abovementioned rules to the civilian’s career:

• up until now (the past)
• in the future.

Because we naturally can't know what will happen in the future, we make the standard assumption that the civilian will continue his current career until his earliest retirement date.

We thus ‘extrapolate’ today’s situation to the future.

For example, if the civilian worked fewer than 156 days in the last fully registered year, we will extrapolate this to the future and this will impact the estimate of the earliest retirement date.

The ‘basis’ we use to predict the future for the estimate on mypension.be can change with every periodic update of the career details. The past can also change when missing career details are added to the career.

As of today, mypension.be once again shows the estimate of the earliest retirement date for civilians aged 60 or over, taking the abovementioned rules into account that will apply as of 2027. The end result depends on the precise details of each individual career.

mypension.be shows the earliest retirement date, but doesn't yet provide details on how this retirement date was calculated. In the examples below, we illustrate how the different early retirement rules influence each other and lead to a specific result.

Three possible scenarios for the new earliest retirement date: the same, early or postponed

The estimate of the earliest retirement date on mypension.be takes all these rules into account. The application of the rules can, in comparison to the estimate on the basis of the previous rules, lead to:

• the same result: the estimate of the earliest retirement date remains the same
• an earlier date: the estimate of the earliest retirement date is brought forward
• a later date: the estimate of the earliest retirement date is postponed

We will run through the three different situations and their main explanations.

My earliest retirement date is still the same

The early retirement rules may change, but this doesn’t mean that the result, the earliest date at which the civilian can retire, also changes for everyone. In several situations, the earliest retirement date remains the same before and after the reform. We list the main three here:

1. Earliest retirement date in (or before) 2026 - early retirement guaranteed
2. No early retirement possible - retirement at the statutory retirement date at the earliest
3. No negative impact due to the reform
    

1. The earliest retirement date doesn't change for civilians with a retirement date in (or before) 2026. This group won’t be impacted by the pension reform. They will continue to see their retirement dates and pension amounts on the basis of the previous rules.
    
2. For civilians who didn’t have an earliest retirement date before the reform because they didn't qualify for early retirement under the previous rules, the retirement date also doesn't change. Because the rules now have been tightened, they also won’t meet the early retirement conditions under the new rules. They can retire at the statutory retirement age of 66 or 67. The statutory retirement age wasn’t changed by the reform.
    
3. The earliest retirement date also doesn't change for civilians who, after the application of the new rules, still have the same number of career years that count towards early retirement. In other words:
   • - their first career year counts at least 104 days
   • - all other career years count at least 156 days
     • o after the possible application of the 5 spare days and the balance days in the case of half-time employment with fluctuating schedules.
        

Additionally: They already have the required number of career years but haven't yet reached the age at which they can retire early.

They therefore can only retire early in the month after the month in which they reach the required age. As birthdays don't change, the earliest retirement date also won't change due to the reform in these cases.

An example:

Rika was born on 14 August 1965 (61 years old in 2026). In 2026, she has 40 career years for early retirement and she’s working full-time.

Because she still has the same number of years that count towards early retirement after the reform, and has reached the age condition after having met the career condition, Rika’s earliest retirement date remains 1 September 2028, just as this was the case before the reform.

My earliest retirement date has been brought forward

This is the case for civilians who, as of 2027, meet the new early retirement conditions: 60 years of age after a career of at least 42 years of at least 234 effectively worked days each.

An example:

Peter was born on 5 March 1966 (60 years old in 2026). In 2026, he has 41 career years of at least 234 days each and he’s working full-time.

Because he meets the conditions of 42 years of at least 234 days each, Peter will see his retirement date on mypension.be brought forward, from 1 May 2028 to 1 October 2027.

My earliest retirement date has been postponed

There are several reasons why the estimate of the earliest retirement date may be postponed after the application of the new rules.

The main reason will naturally be the increased number of worked and assimilated days needed to have a career year count towards early retirement: this has been brought from 104 to 156 days.

Civilians with one or more career years of at least 104 days, but fewer than 156 days, will potentially see their retirement date postponed.

Why potentially?

The impact on the estimate of the earliest retirement date depends on the number of career years that contain between 104 and 156 days and that, even after applying the 5 spare days and any balance days for periods of half-time employment, don’t meet the minimal limit of 156 days.

For civil servants specifically, the groups of civil servants who lose or see their increase coefficient reduced, are also impacted. Or civil servants may find themselves in a leave scheme of which the periods used from 2027 onwards will no longer be taken into account for the early retirement conditions. Lastly, the retirement age for soldiers and the HR Rail driving staff will gradually be increased.

The impact of the pension reform is mitigated by transitional measures for people over 60. Their retirement dates can be postponed by one (over 60 years old) or two (60 years old) years at most.

Finally, mypension.be applies all of these rules when making an estimate of a civilian’s earliest retirement date. The end result depends on the precise details of each individual career.

This is why it’s impossible to provide an exhaustive list of examples. Below, we give three examples of frequently occurring situations:

1.  All career years still meet the early retirement conditions and the last career year is required to meet the career condition

This is the case for civilians who, after the application of the new rules, still have the same number of career years that count towards early retirement. In other words:

• their first career year counts at least 104 days
• all other career years count at least 156 days
  • after the possible application of the 5 spare days and the balance days in the case of half-time employment with fluctuating schedules.

Additionally, they meet the career condition before meeting the career condition.

If you already meet the age condition, you need the last career year to meet the career condition. Consequently, you must wait until the moment at which you have sufficient days to have the career year count towards early retirement. This moment will determine your earliest retirement date.

An example:

Sylvia was born on 14 January 1963 (63 years old in 2026). In 2026, she has 40 career years of at least 156 days each and she’s working full-time.

Because all her career years count towards early retirement even after the reform, and she needs her last career year to meet the career condition, her retirement date is postponed to the moment at which she has a sufficient number of days to have the career year taken into account for early retirement. Because she works full-time, this was on 1 May, due to the 104-day rule. Under the current 156-day rule, this becomes 1 July. Her retirement date will thus be postponed slightly from 1 May 2028 to 1 July 2028.

2.  Fewer career years meet the early retirement conditions but the transitional measure for those over 60 needn’t be applied

An example:

Eline was born on 30 November 1966 (60 years old in 2026).

In 2026, she has a total of 40 career years:

• 38 years of 156 days each
• 1 year of 153 days → raised by 3 spare days to 156 days
• 1 year of 120 days → isn’t the first career year and thus doesn’t count towards early retirement

She's currently working full-time.

Due to the reform, one year doesn’t count towards the early retirement condition. This means that in 2026, Eline has 39 years that count towards the early retirement career condition. Eline continues to work full-time until her retirement. Because of this, she meets both the career condition of 42 years and the age condition of 63 years on 1 December 2029, in accordance with the new rules.

Her retirement date is thus postponed by 7 months, from 1 May to 1 December 2029. This constitutes a delay of fewer than 2 years, which means the transitional measure needn't be applied.

3.  Fewer career years meet the early retirement conditions and the transitional measure for those over 60 must be applied

An example:

Sam was born on 14 February 1965 (61 years old in 2026).

In 2026, he has a total of 40 career years:

• 35 years of 156 days each
• 1 year of 155 days → raised by 1 spare day to 156 days
• 1 year of 154 days → raised by 2 spare days to 156 days
• 3 years of 130 days → these don't include the first career year and thus don’t count towards early retirement
   

He's currently working full-time.

Due to the reform, three years don’t count towards the early retirement condition. This means that in 2026, Sam has 37 years that count towards the early retirement career condition.

Sam continues to work full-time until his retirement. Because of this, he meets both the career condition of 42 years and the age condition of 63 years on 1 July 2031, in accordance with the new rules.

Sam’s retirement date is postponed by more than 1 year due to the reform: from 1 May 2028 to 1 July 2031. Because he was born in 1965, he falls within the scope of the transitional measure. This means that his retirement date is postponed by no more than 1 year.

Sam’s new retirement date thus will be 1 May 2029.