By definition, a pension is a personal, life-long pecuniary allowance granted to servicemen and women and, after their death, to their dependants, as remuneration for the services they have performed up to the regular termination of their service, or as compensation for bodily injury suffered during their service.

These are governed by the relevant provisions of decree no. 76/460 of 12 October 1976 and subsequent amendments. The pension file’s composition must not be overlooked, whatever the case and, in case of doubt, it would be advisable to contact the administrative services of the department to which you belong or the decentralised services of the SED/CACVG to be reminded of the context of the files.

It is important to note that measures were taken by the public authorities to enable eligible personnel to benefit from the retirement pension as soon as possible, after the suspension of active pay due to retirement.

Moreover, the automatic transfer to early retirement of Armed Forces and Gendarmerie personnel who have reached the age limit for service in their grade is an example to be cited. This was the purpose of a joint MINDEF and MINFI instruction of 12 August 2021. This pre-pension, which amounts to 100% of basic pay, is provided for a maximum period of 04 years, during which time the employees are invited to regularise their administrative situation by compiling a regulatory file enabling them to have their rights fully established. This excludes personnel assigned to embassies and those retained in active service during their mobilisable reserve period, which is 03 years for officers and 02 years for non-commissioned officers.

This interim and transitional measure, which allows the pensioner to have the physical conditions of existence in relation to the dignity of his or her function, should not lose sight of the reality that everyone should ensure that all required documents are collected and produced in accordance with the regulatory context of pension records. It should be recalled here that this requirement is far from a bureaucracy. Rather, it is about calculating and determining the rights to be served accurately, taking into account the exact situation, both in the civil registry and in the context of administrative and financial changes, especially in view of the anticipated pay elements for the mobilisable reserve period, both officers and non-commissioned officers.

The civil registration documents produced must be authentic and the pay items up to date. This is also the time for the revaluation of the disability pension. Calculated at index 100 during employment period, it is thus calculated as an accessory to the retirement pension that is matched to the rank index acquired at the time of retirement. It is also the time to take advantage of the children markup, as this other retirement pension accessory was used for retired Defense Force personnel who raised children up to the age of 16. The first 03 are thus entitled to a pension increase of 10% and an additional 05% for each child from the 04th.

Those comrades who have thus undergone a suspension of Code 466 assigned to the “increase for child ” from July 2024 are invited to appear before the counselling unit open to them at Building A of the Ministry of Finance, with a copy of the decree granting them pension rights, copies of birth certificates of pensionable children, certified by the issuing civil status centres and a copy of their national identity card. This counselling unit, activated at MINFI since 27 July 2024, is open until 27 November 2024, to allow affected personnel to produce supporting documents that reinstate the child-related increase, if any. Those who have not provided evidence may eventually incur the costs of a review of the act of granting pension rights, without prejudice to any action taken to reimburse unduly collected amounts. These are the insights that the Head of the Personnel, Pensions and Chancellery Department of SED/CACVG has been keen to provide to his retired comrades-in-arm on the issue of retirement and disability pensions. /-