Statutory “Correction” of the Partial Pension Scheme
Statutory “Correction” of Partial Pension Scheme
As a reminder: From 1 January 2026, individuals entitled to (early) retirement pension will be able, under the partial pension scheme pursuant to § 4a APG, to draw part of their accrued pension entitlement while continuing employment on a part-time basis. The part-time employment ensures that insurance periods and contribution bases continue to be accumulated, which has a positive effect on the final pension amount. |
The original requirement that the normal working hours to be reduced as a prerequisite for a partial pension (reduction range between 25% and 75%) must be rounded up to full working hours is to be abolished. This change is necessary to avoid absurd results, as under the current wording of the law, a 40% reduction in working hours for a 40-hour week (= 25% partial pension) and a 41% reduction (= 50% partial pension) would both result in the same part-time level of 24 hours per week.
Furthermore, a previous legal ambiguity will be eliminated by introducing precise decimal limits into the three-tier scale of working time reduction (on which the percentage amount of the partial pension depends). According to this amendment, the relevant tiers will be as follows:
- Tier 1: Reduction between 25% and 40% → 25% partial pension
- Tier 2: Reduction between 40.01% (instead of 41%) and 60% → 50% partial pension
- Tier 3: Reduction between 60.01% (instead of 61%) and 75% → 75% partial pension
The draft bill now provides that the maximum permissible working time (including the deviation tolerance of 10%), which must be observed for the receipt of the partial pension, is to be rounded up to full working hours.
According to the accompanying explanatory notes in the draft bill, the government also intends to ensure through a statutory adjustment of the provision that recipients of a partial pension who continue working after reaching the standard retirement age are not disadvantaged with regard to the associated pension bonus.