Preferential tantièmes for the calculation of civil servants’ pensions

The Belgian Court of Audit’s report to the Federal Parliament has identified problems in the regulations on the preferential career fractions (the so-called tantièmes) used to calculate the civil servants’ pensions. As a result of this system, certain categories of civil servants receive a higher pension and may retire earlier. There are also shortcomings in the way the Federal Pension Department has been monitoring compliance with the system. The Court has therefore concluded that the question whether the unequal treatment resulting from the system can still be justified must be looked into.