Federal coalition agreement 2025-2029

State pensions for employees:

The new coalition's pension plan includes the following:

• Introduction of a pension penalty: As of 2026, a reduction in pension benefits will apply to people taking early retirement if they have completed a 35-year career. This reduction will be 2% until 2030, 4% until 2040 and 5% from 2040 onwards.
• Pension bonus: A new bonus system will replace the current one, with an increase in pension benefits of 2% until 2030, 4% until 2040 and 5% until 2040 for people retiring after the statutory pension age if they have completed at least 35 years of service.
• Early retirement: The conditions for early retirement will be modified, allowing early retirement as of the age of 60 with a career of at least 42 years of actual work.
• SWT (former bridge pension) and other systems that encourage early exit from the labour market in the public sector will stop new entries from the date of the coalition agreement, except for medical SWT.
• Spouses/domestic partners are encouraged to specify in their marriage contract how they intend to split their pension benefits in the event of separation (divorce). Extensive communication will be provided on this subject.

Supplementary pensions for employees (2nd pillar):  

There are plans to introduce a mandatory supplementary pension for all employees, including contractual employees in the public sector, by 2035 at the latest, with an employer contribution of at least 3% of the annual salary. Additionally, sectors will need to make extra efforts through sectoral agreements. The calculation of the 80% rule will also be adjusted, taking into account the career already completed (analogous to the Wijninckx threshold).

For supplementary pensions that, together with the state pension, exceed the maximum pension of a civil servant, a higher premium for the pension contribution will apply. This threshold will be calculated based on the actual pension amount.

Read everything you need to know about the Wijninckx contribution.

Other important pension-related measures:

• Fiscal and parafiscal moratorium: Compliance with the fiscal and parafiscal moratorium as agreed by the social partners.
• Increased solidarity: Increase in the solidarity contribution for pension capital above €150,000.
• Pension equality: The first pension pillar for statutory civil servants will gradually be aligned with that of employees, with an annual extension of the calculation period based on the last ten years of the career from 2027, until it reaches 45 years in 2062. Once equality is achieved for the pensions of statutory employees, a second pillar for statutory civil servants will be introduced by law.
• No more advances on IPPs: Cash advances on IPPs will no longer be permitted, unless used to finance a real estate investment in the primary residence only.
• Study on pension benefits paid out as annuities: The possibility to minimise taxes on supplementary pension benefits paid out in the form of annuities will be analysed.

Incapacity for work and long-term sick leave:

A comprehensive plan for the prevention and reintegration of long-term sick employees. The foundation of this plan is stronger accountability for the five involved parties:

• Employers
  • Encourage employers and their prevention services to implement an active absenteeism policy: healthy work environment, regular monitoring of sick employees, etc. (strengthening the Code on Well-being at Work and legislation on work regulations).
  • Obligation for employers (excluding SMEs) to pay a contribution of 30% of the INAMI/RIZIV benefit for employees aged 18 to 54 during the first two months following the guaranteed salary period.
  • This last point replaces the current sanctions for companies with a high number of long-term absentees. 
     
• Employees
  • Employees who do not sufficiently cooperate with a reintegration or return-to-work plan (RIT) will face stricter sanctions. The reintegration plans themselves will be reformed.
  • There will be a 10% reduction in their disability benefit if certain (administrative) obligations are not met.
  • The elimination of the mandatory sick note for the first sick day will be reduced from three to two times per year (in companies with more than 50 employees).
     
• Doctors (treating physician, advising physician, and occupational physician)
  • When issuing an initial certificate or extending the certificate of incapacity for work, the treating physician must discuss the possibility of adjusted work or reorientation (valid for general practitioners and specialists).
  • Through data mining, awareness will be increased, and doctors who prescribe too much incapacity for work will be held financially accountable (exact implementation to be defined).
     
• Health insurance funds
  • Health insurance funds will need to collaborate more closely with other players involved in reintegration: employers, doctors, and others, to set up reintegration plans.
  • The government also wants to make health insurance funds financially responsible: their reintegration performance versus the average will impact their funding.
     
• Regional employment services
  • The government wants to improve coordination and cooperation between the federal/regional levels and between the health and labour policy domains

Inpatient and outpatient care

Regarding outpatient care, the government wants to provide patients with more certainty about rates. Currently, there is a historically high number of healthcare providers not participating in the convention model (system with fixed rates). The government wants to encourage healthcare providers to rejoin this model and will increase the difference between conventioned and non-conventioned providers.

Secondly, hospitals will face a limitation on fee supplements and the introduction of a performance-based budget ('pay for performance'). The reform of the nomenclature (the list of medical treatments and their reimbursements) will be completed during this legislature.

Finally, for healthcare providers, the reform of the nomenclature will aim to ensure appropriate remuneration for everyone and make shortage occupations more attractive.

There is still a lot of work ahead for the new government. We will, of course, keep a close eye on developments.

Pension & Health Forum | 17 novembre 2025 

Would you like practical tips and insights on what to expect as an employer?

At the Pension & Health Forum, prominent guest speakers will cover everything in detail:

• Jan Jambon, Federal Minister of Pensions, will elaborate on the pension aspect of the government agreement.
• Marie Noëlle Vanderhoven, Senior Advisor at the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB), will outline the FEB's perspectives on the agreement and the support available to you.
• Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Professor at the University of Oxford, will demonstrate with solid data why investing in well-being is also economically beneficial.

Discover the full program here (French/Dutch).