A pension calculation change meant to give mothers of one or more children a small boost to their retirement payments cannot yet be applied, France's national old-age insurance fund, the Caisse nationale d'assurance vieillesse (CNAV), has said, confirming reporting by Ouest-France.
The new calculation method was supposed to take effect on September 1, but the CNAV's computer system is not ready to process it. The fund said the change would instead be caught up as soon as possible, with a backdated correction expected in early 2027.
What the new calculation changes
Since September 1, France's pension insurance system was meant to apply a more favorable calculation for mothers of at least one child. Instead of basing the pension on a worker's 25 best-paid years, as under the standard rule, the new method counts the 24 best-paid years for mothers of one child, or the 23 best-paid years for mothers of two or more children.
A CNAV representative told the news agency Agence France-Presse that the computer system would not be able to apply the new method before the second quarter of 2027.
Pensions still calculated the old way for now
Until the system is updated, affected mothers will continue to have their pensions calculated on the basis of their 25 best-paid years, the same method used for previous generations.
The CNAV said that once the system update is complete, the pensions of all mothers who retired from September 1 onward will be recalculated, and the fund will make up for the months in which the higher payment was missed.
The CNAV said no action needed to be taken by those affected, as everything would be handled automatically.
A modest increase
The boost created by the new calculation method is relatively small. In preparatory documents for the 2026 Social Security budget bill, the French government estimated that counting the 24 or 23 best-paid years instead of 25 would raise the pensions of affected women by an average of 1%.
