Early retirement from age 55 with benefits: current exceptional regime extended until the end of 2025

A credit of time for end-of-career allows workers aged 55 and over to reduce their working hours. However, they must wait until they are 60 to receive a replacement income from the NEO. An allowance from the age of 55 is only available for certain categories of workers, but this exception will become stricter starting in 2026.

This AI-generated translation may contain errors and should not be considerd legal advice. For accurate info, refer to the Dutch or French version or consult your Securex Legal Advisor.

In brief

Employees with a long career, those in demanding jobs, or those working for struggling companies can start receiving a replacement income from the NEO at age 55 (instead of 60) when they take a time credit for end-of-career. They can still access this system between July 1 and December 31, 2025, as the social partners have agreed on a new framework collective agreement.

Principle: work less from 55, allowance from 60

A time credit for end-of-career (landing path) with the employer does not automatically grant access to a corresponding NEO allowance. Employees who meet certain conditions can reduce their work by 1/5 or by half from the age of 55. However, it is only from the age of 60 that they are entitled to a complementary allowance from the NEO.

Sometimes an allowance from 55

Certain categories of employees – those with a long career, in demanding jobs, or from companies facing difficulties or restructuring – can receive a disruption allowance from the NEO starting at age 55. This exception was established in collective agreement no. 170 of the National Labour Council (NAR), which was effective from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2025.

The social partners have now – pending a final arrangement from the government regarding landing paths – extended this exception until December 31, 2025, through collective agreement no. 174 of the NAR.

Implementing collective agreements needed for exceptions from July 1, 2025

Collective agreement no. 174 is a framework collective agreement for the entire country. This means that implementing collective agreements are still needed, at least at the sector level, for all applications from July 1, 2025. Without such a collective agreement, your employee cannot receive allowances under the exception regime.

For employees with a long career or demanding jobs, a sectoral collective agreement (per activity sector) is required
For employees of a company in difficulty or restructuring, a company collective agreement is also required

The implementing collective agreements must explicitly refer to framework collective agreement no. 174. To be valid for applications from July 1, 2025, they must be retroactively concluded.

If you, as an employer, are not part of a joint committee, or are part of a joint committee that is not operational, you can apply collective agreement no. 174 through a joining act (between you and the employees) or through an amendment to your labour regulation.

NEO will pay retroactively

It was waiting for collective agreement no. 174 from the NAR and now for the necessary sectoral and company collective agreements. Meanwhile, there are employees aged 55 to 59 in the exception categories who have received or extended a landing path from July 1, 2025. They did not yet have the right to disruption allowances.

The NEO has announced that these employees can now apply for a regularization of the allowance. In practice, this can only happen after the implementing collective agreement has been concluded. With this application, they can receive a disruption allowance retroactively from the start or extension date of their landing path.

Separate exception regime for disabled employees

Finally, there is an additional exception for disabled employees based on national collective agreement no. 171. This collective agreement also expired on June 30, 2025, but was extended until the end of 2025 by the social partners through collective agreement no. 175.

Unlike the previously discussed exception regimes, no additional company or enterprise collective agreement is required here.

Collective agreement no. 175 applies to employees of sheltered and social workshops and tailored companies (JC 327) who have a professional career of at least 25 years. Support staff are not eligible for the exception.

Disabled employees will therefore also be able to receive an allowance from the age of 55 until the end of 2025 if they meet all other conditions.

Entry into force

Collective agreements no. 174 and no. 175 were concluded on June 30, 2025, and are valid from July 1 to December 31, 2025. The extension applies to landing paths that start or are extended in the period from July 1, 2025, to December 31, 2025.

This means that if your employees aged 55 to 59 want to take a landing path with NEO allowance, they can still apply for this until the end of 2025. After that, this system is no longer guaranteed.

The Arizona parties have included in their government agreement that they will adjust the joining conditions for landing paths with NEO allowance. From January 1, 2026, the exception regimes will become stricter. Employees who already enjoy an allowance before then can retain it according to current plans.

What does Securex do for you?

As soon as the government has developed further measures, you will read about it on Lex4You and in your FlasHR newsletter. In the meantime, you can read more about the time credit for end-of-career in our files on Lex4You.

If you have any questions, you can contact your Securex Legal Advisor via MyHR@securex.be.