Dear GAC-EPA members,
As you will have read in the letter that you received from the Fund at the beginning of June, the Pension Fund wishes to change the date on which pensions are paid from the 7th to the 25th of the month from the beginning of 2026.
To better understand the rationale for this change, we asked the Pension Fund for an explanation.
The main reason for the proposed change is that sometimes bereaved families have to arrange a reimbursement of a pension that has been unduly paid; this often happens when a death occurs at the end of the month – for example: a beneficiary dies on 25 July, the July pension has been paid, however, the August pension is also very likely to be paid if the Fund has not been informed prior to instructing the payment; in this case, the Fund will have to ask the relatives to arrange a reimbursement of the August pension, which is a delicate process for the Pension Fund’s Benefits Service and difficult for the bereaved family. By paying the pension at the end of the month, this problem should arise much less frequently; the rule is that for any death during the month (from the 1st to the last day of the month), the pension is due in full for that month.
Avoiding certain bereaved families having to pay back a large sum of money in the middle of the night is a laudable intention; however, the GAC-EPA Committee is concerned about the consequences of this change for the most vulnerable beneficiaries.
The position of the GAC-EPA Committee, which we have presented to the Pension Fund Governing Board and its Benefits Service Team, is clear: we ask the Fund to abandon this change!
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