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- The old-age provision needs a renovation. In summer 2019, the social partners agreed on a reform of the occupational pension scheme (BVG).
- The Federal Council approved this compromise without change as a dispatch on Wednesday.
- Now it is Parliament’s turn.
Occupational pensions have been under pressure for a long time. The reasons for this are increased life expectancy and low interest rates. Following the rejection of the pension reform in September 2017 by the Swiss electorate, the Federal Council launched a new attempt. The focus is on the second pillar.
With the reform of the occupational pension scheme (BVG 21), the level of pensions will be ensured, funding will be strengthened and the protection of part-time workers, and therefore women in particular, will be improved, as the Council writes Federal.
Failed multiple times
The core of the commitment of the social partners is a reduction in pensions, which is cushioned by various compensatory measures. The minimum conversion rate, with which the capital saved is converted into a pension, should decrease from 6.8 to 6.0 percent. This would mean losing 12 percent of the pension in one go.
A reduction in the conversion rate is essential, writes the Federal Council. Despite this widely recognized need, lowering the conversion rate failed several times at the polls.
The union and employee organizations SGB and Travail Suisse, which participated in the compromise, wrested a package of complementary measures from the employers’ association to allow them to give in. This includes adjusting for retirement credits. Today there are four sentences. The rate for people aged 45 to 54 is 15 percent, for older employees it is 18 percent.
In the future, they should amount to 14 percent of the insured salary for both age groups. For employees between the ages of 25 and 44, contributions are set at a uniform 9 percent, which tends to mean an increase. As a result, ancillary wage costs for older employees are increasing less dramatically than today;
Pension supplement as compensation
The commitment also foresees improvements for part-time employees, low-income employees, and therefore especially for women: the Federal Council proposes to halve the coordination deduction, which determines the insured salary, to CHF 12,443 .
That means a higher insured salary and higher contributions, but also a higher pension. Part-time employees, in particular, benefit from the lowest coordination deduction. However, for employees with multiple earnings, nothing changes because the entry threshold remains at 21,330 francs.
However, these measures are not sufficient to compensate for the loss of pensions of those employees who have been working for a longer period of time. In accordance with the commitment of the social partners, the Federal Council therefore proposes a monthly lifetime pension surcharge for BVG pension beneficiaries.
For the first five cohorts of new pensioners after the entry into force, this surcharge should be 200 francs, for the next five cohorts 150 francs and then 100 francs. Lower income and part-time employees benefit immediately from this. In addition, the pension level of a 15-year transition generation will be maintained. Accordingly, the Federal Council should fix the amount anew each year.
The surcharge is financed by a salary contribution of 0.5 per cent on an annual income subject to AHV up to CHF 853,200. The second pillar does not provide for pay-as-you-go financing. According to the Federal Council, the costs for the insured amount to more than 3 billion francs.
