The government has pushed back on claims that the National Pension Insurance Fund (CNAP) is struggling to implement this year’s pension reforms.
In December, parliament passed the government’s controversial pension reform, which requires workers to contribute into the retirement system longer to receive a full pension, with the increases implemented in stages between 2026 and 2030. Future retirees will need to work an extra month starting in July 2026, ratcheting up to eight months in 2030.
Last week, RTL reported that the CNAP, Luxembourg’s main private sector pension fund, was wrestling with how to interpret the new rules and update its guidelines. The broadcaster, citing leaked internal documents, gave the example of a worker born on 1 January 1970 who will have recorded 480 months of work – the minimum to receive a full state pension – on 1 January 2028.
According to RTL, CNAP was unsure how to calculate this person’s retirement age under the early retirement scheme, which would have been either four more months of working time in 2028 or eight more months in 2030.
The Ministry of Health and Social Security told the Luxembourg Times that the RTL report omitted certain details from that example. The question being discussed internally was how to credit time spent as a student.
The answer determined by the fund was that only months spent in paid employment would count for early retirement. “On 1 January 2030 the person considered will be of age 60 and the reform will be applicable and the insurance periods of contributions paid on salary needs to be complemented by eight months,” the ministry spokesperson said Monday. For workers over the age of 60, months spent as a student will be taken into account.
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Progressive pensions
The ministry disputed the allegation that the new progressive retirement scheme – which would allow retirees to work part time and receive a proportionally reduced pension – would create an excessive workload for the CNAP.
No additional workload will be created in the application process, as the paperwork and process are similar to the existing early retirement scheme, the spokesperson said.
The only extra step, they said, is that “the CNAP has to check, in the context of the adapted working regime [agreed between an employee and employer], that the working [time] has been reduced by at least 25% and that the remaining working time is not below 16 hours a week.”
The introduction of the progressive pension scheme “will at earliest be made in May 2026 and the CNAP is still working on the implementation of the progressive pension scheme. Once the relevant procedures have been defined and are fully operational, the application form will be made available via Guichet.lu.”
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Staff recruitment
The CNAP received approval from the government last autumn to create 69 more staff positions. It had a total workforce of 238, representing 222 full-time equivalent employees, as of 31 December 2025, according to the Ministry of Health and Social Security spokesperson. The fund has a legal limit of 295 positions, they said.
“This reinforcement of personnel is necessary to enable CNAP to cope with a steadily increasing workload, particularly in processing applications and analysing insurance careers, which are becoming increasingly complex. Furthermore, the implementation of digitalisation and modernisation projects also requires additional human resources.”
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Communication needs to ‘be clear’
The ministry acknowledged that it was still catching up with the new guidelines and that this could be concerning for workers and pensioners.
“The CNAP is fully aware of its significant role within Luxembourg’s social security system,” the spokesperson said. “The information and decisions issued by the CNAP have a direct impact on the daily lives of insured persons and must therefore be clear, accurate and unambiguous.”
The pension reform bill was introduced in October 2025 and passed two months later, they noted. “Given the very short timeframe between its presentation, adoption and entry into force, 1 January 2026, the CNAP is still implementing all required changes within its IT and organisational frameworks.”
The ministry rep stated: “The CNAP will communicate regularly via its official website to ensure that insured persons are kept duly informed.”
