The first pension date determines which rules apply
The changes were set out in two decrees published in the Journal officiel, France's Official Journal, on Nov. 3, 2026. They do not apply to people already receiving a pension. L'Assurance retraite, France's main pension fund, says existing retirees will retain their current conditions even if they resume working years later.
The dividing line is the effective date of the first basic pension: a pension beginning by Dec. 1, 2026 remains under the old system, while one starting Jan. 1, 2027 or later comes under the new rules.
Under the existing system, retirees receiving a full-rate pension who had claimed all their pensions could work without an earnings limit. Other retirees faced a ceiling. For someone who had not reached the full rate, combined pension and employment income was limited to the more favorable of 160% of the gross SMIC minimum wage or their last gross monthly salary, according to Sud Ouest's reporting with AFP.
Three age-based rules for new retirees
For those covered by the reform, age replaces the previous distinction, according to the government information portal Service-Public. Anyone working before the legal minimum retirement age will lose one euro of pension for each euro earned, with no initial allowance.
After reaching the legal age but before turning 67, retirees will have a €7,000 gross annual allowance. Each additional euro of income will reduce their pension by 50 cents. At 67 and older, work income will no longer trigger a pension reduction, and working may create an entitlement to a second pension, once only.
The legal minimum age varies by birth year. Sud Ouest, citing AFP, reports that it currently stands at 62 years and 9 months and is gradually increasing to 64 under Élisabeth Borne's pension reform.
The €7,000 allowance, roughly $8,000 or £6,100, will be adjusted annually in line with France's social security ceiling, a salary reference used to calculate many contributions.
How reductions will be calculated and collected
For a retiree who has reached the legal age, €10,000 in annual gross earnings would leave €3,000 above the allowance and produce a €1,500 pension reduction. At age 65, someone earning €20,000 gross would exceed the allowance by €13,000, resulting in a €6,500 reduction over the year.
The outcome differs on either side of the age limits. A person who retired through a long-career scheme and earned €5,000 before reaching the legal age would lose €5,000 in pension. A 68-year-old earning €30,000 from consulting would face no reduction.
Using the donor's approximate exchange rates of $1.15 and £0.87 per euro, those reductions of €1,500, €6,500 and €5,000 are about $1,700 or £1,300, $7,500 or £5,700, and $5,750 or £4,350, respectively.
Pension funds will collect the reduction over the following 12 months rather than all at once. The monthly deduction cannot exceed one-third of the monthly pension, and it will be applied to the basic pension before supplementary pensions.
Activities that remain exempt
Some work will not trigger the pension reduction. The exemptions include jury duty, occasional expert assignments, service in military and health reserves, home childcare, school transport, healthcare work in areas with doctor shortages, and assistance with a business takeover.
Sud Ouest reports that the exemptions also cover building caretakers who receive housing from their employer, people assisting elderly or disabled people, income from rural lodging in heritage properties, and artistic, literary or scientific work performed as a secondary occupation.
According to UNSA Retraités, decree 2026-1016 identifies the professions exempt from the requirements to cease activity and from pension reductions. Decree 2026-1017 explains the reduction calculations. Both decrees are dated Nov. 2, 2026.
The reform's background and response
Les Echos reports that the reform was announced in September 2025 and received final parliamentary approval on Dec. 16, 2025, ahead of the implementing decrees published this November.
The Ministry of Labour describes the change as harmonizing rules across pension schemes and restoring the system's original purpose of supplementing the incomes of the lowest-income retirees, according to Sud Ouest's reporting with AFP.
About 710,000 people combined work and retirement pensions in 2020, earning an average of €9,000 annually from their activity, according to the Cour des comptes.
UNSA Retraités has criticized the rules as restrictive. In its example, a retiree would need a gross monthly pension of €500 and complementary activity income of only €83 to avoid a pension reduction. The union also cites its barometer finding that 6% of surveyed retirees with pensions below €1,400 combine work and retirement out of necessity.
Checks before taking on retirement work
Foreign nationals who worked in France, along with people planning to retire there, should check both their first pension date and their legal retirement age. For someone approaching retirement, a Dec. 1, 2026 pension start rather than Jan. 1, 2027 determines whether the old rules remain available. The personal account on the French pension website provides the applicable legal age.
Income covered by the rules includes wages, the contribution base for self-employed workers, turnover for micro-entrepreneurs, and replacement income such as sick pay. Self-employed retirees must notify their pension fund within one month of starting or continuing an activity; failure to report it can lead to suspended payments.
Retirees earning income outside France should seek a written explanation from their pension fund about how it will be treated. Non-EU nationals living in France should also verify that their residence permit authorizes paid work.
Further guidance is still pending: a ministerial order specifying supporting documents and a circular from the national pension fund, CNAV. Retirees should consult the official guidance before planning their first year of work under the new system.
