Time credit at the end of career with allowance: longer career needed
If your employee wishes to ease into retirement, they can apply for a landing job until they retire. This reduction can be taken part-time or for 1/5th. Currently, this can be done with or without an additional RVA allowance. To qualify for the time credit at the end of career with RVA allowance, a number of conditions must be met. These conditions relate to age, seniority, and employment. Additionally, a career condition must also be fulfilled.
Read more: ‘What is the end-of-career time credit’
What changes regarding the career conditions?
Your employee aged at least 60 years must now prove a combined career (with all employers) of at least 25 years to use a landing job.
For applications or extensions from January 1, 2026, the career condition will gradually increase. Different conditions apply for female and male employees. Below is a summary:
|
January 1 |
Career condition for men |
Career condition for women |
|
2025 |
25 |
25 |
|
2026 |
31 |
26 |
|
2027 |
32 |
27 |
|
2028 |
33 |
28 |
|
2029 |
34 |
29 |
|
2030 |
35 |
30 |
Female employees must demonstrate fewer career years because they often took on caregiving tasks during a time with limited opportunities for career breaks. In 2029, this reduced condition will be reviewed.
Tip: If your employee already has a career of 25 years this year (but not yet 31 years), they can still receive an RVA allowance if they start the landing job before January 1, 2026. The landing job must begin before this date. The application date is the only decisive factor in determining whether your employee meets the conditions.
Exception regimes extended until June 30, 2029
In addition to the regular time credit at the end of career with allowance, there are also several exception regimes. These apply from the age of 55 for employees with a long career (35 years of professional experience).
Additionally, employees who are 55 years old and can demonstrate 25 years of professional experience can apply for a landing job. They must meet one of the following conditions:
- Have worked in a heavy profession for 5 of the previous 10 years
- Have worked in a heavy profession for 7 of the previous 15 years
- Have performed night work for at least 20 years
- Have worked in PC 124 (the construction sector) and have a certificate of unfitness to continue performing the profession
- Work for companies in restructuring or in difficulty;
- Be disabled target group employees from PC 327 (sheltered workshops and social enterprises)
These employees can already enjoy an allowance from the age of 55 instead of 60, provided that a collective agreement has been concluded.
Read more: Collective agreement for landing jobs
The collective agreement that regulated this expired on June 30, 2025, but was extended until the end of 2025 through interprofessional collective agreement 174. The social partners, supported by the government, decided that the exception regimes will remain in place until June 30, 2029.
Additional collective agreement needed for exception regimes
If your employee wants to use the exception regime from the age of 55 with RVA allowance, an additional collective agreement is required at the sectoral or company level. Without this collective agreement, there is no right to allowance. This obligation does not apply to some disabled employees.
Abolition of landing jobs without allowance from January 1, 2026
From January 1, 2026, a landing job without RVA allowance will no longer be possible. The current exceptions (from 50 or 55 years without allowance) will disappear, except for employees who are already using them. They will retain their rights.
Employees with atypical time schedules
From January 1, 2026, employees who perform their full-time schedule spread over less than 5 days a week will also be entitled to a 1/5 time credit. Here too, a collective agreement at the sectoral or company level or a written agreement will be needed to further develop the modalities.
This applies to all forms of time credit. So both at the end of the career and for time credit with a motive.
Equalization of landing jobs for retirement
The period of a landing job counts towards the pension career, provided that your employee continues to work until the legal retirement age (66 years, from 2030: 67 years). In the case of early retirement, this equalization does not apply fully.
Entry into force
The entry into force of these changes is scheduled for applications for landing jobs from January 1, 2026.
What does Securex do for you?
If you have any questions about this, do not hesitate to contact your Legal Advisor at myHr@securex.be. They can also help you check the eligibility conditions for your employee and provide you with your model documents.
Sources
- Royal decree of September 5, 2025 amending the royal decree of December 12, 2001 implementing Chapter IV of the Act of August 10, 2001 on the reconciliation of employment and quality of life regarding the system of time credit, career reduction, and reduction of working hours to a part-time position
- Collective agreements of the National Labour Council: 179, 180 regarding: extension of specific regimes
- Collective agreements of the National Labour Council specifically for the exception regime for disabled employees: 181 and 182
- Collective agreement 103/7 regarding: the extension of the career condition, the abolition of time credit without allowance, and atypical time schedules.