The CGA civil-service pension: how it is calculated

What the CGA is and who still retires through it

The Caixa Geral de Aposentações (CGA) is the pension scheme of Portuguese public workers enrolled by 31 December 2005. On that date it closed to new members: anyone who joined the State from 2006 pays into Social Security and gets the general-regime pension². For those who stayed in the CGA, the enrollment date determines the pension formula, set by Law 60/2005 and detailed in the CGA's official calculation note¹:

You can apply the formula to your case in the CGA pension calculator.

The 2026 conditions: age and guarantee period

Ordinary (non-early) retirement requires, in 2026, age 66 years and 9 months and at least 15 years of service, the guarantee period². The normal age matches the general regime and is set every year from life expectancy. A long career lowers the personal age: 4 months less for each year of service beyond 40, never below 60. Find your exact date in the retirement-age calculator.

Enrolled by 31-08-1993: the P1 + P2 formula

Those who enrolled in the CGA by 31 August 1993 without conditions vested by 2007 (the common case among today's retirees) add two parts¹:

Pension = P1 + P2

The P1 part: service until 2005

P1 uses the old civil-service statute formula:

P1 = R × T1 ÷ 40

• R is 80% of the relevant gross monthly pay earned by 31-12-2005, revalued. As a rule it is the pay of the post held in 2005 or the average of the last 3 years to that date.
• R is capped at 12 × IAS: 12 × €537.13 = €6,445.56 in 2026⁴. The cap only touches relevant pay above roughly €8,057.
• T1 is the years of service the CGA counts up to 31-12-2005, capped at 40.

The P2 part: service since 2006

P2 applies the general Social Security rules to the post-2005 service³:

P2 = reference pay × annual rate × N

• The reference pay is the monthly average of earnings since 2006 (officially, the revalued total divided by 14 times the number of years).
• The annual rate runs from 2% to 2.3%, in brackets of the pay in multiples of the IAS:

• N only counts the years since 2006 strictly needed to complete the 40-year career together with T1. Someone with 30 years of service by 2005 accrues at most 10 more; someone with 40 accrues no P2 at all.
• Unlike the pure general regime, P2 has no 30% minimum on the formation rate: it is a proportional part, not a standalone pension.

Enrolled 01-09-1993 to 31-12-2005: general-regime rules

Those who enrolled in the CGA between 1 September 1993 and 31 December 2005 have the pension computed entirely under the general-regime rules¹: the career-average reference pay × the global formation rate (2% per year up to a 20-year career; 2% to 2.3% in brackets from 21 years, with a 92% global maximum). It is exactly the same math as the general-regime pension estimator; the CGA calculator has a dedicated mode for this group.

Retiring early cuts, retiring late pays a bonus

Retiring before the normal (or personal) age brings two cuts¹:

• 0.5% for each month of anticipation (those with 36 years of service by 2005 have their own 4.5%-per-year regime, and 3-year service modules beyond 36 reduce the penalised years);
• the sustainability factor, for those without conditions vested by 2007: in 2026 the pension is multiplied by 0.8237, a 17.63% cut, the same life-expectancy mechanism as the general regime.

Early retirement on a very long career (the personal age dropped to 60) escapes the penalties. The cuts are permanent: they do not disappear once you reach the normal age. See the effect in the general regime in the early-retirement calculator.

Working past the normal age with 15 or more years of service earns a monthly bonus of 0.33% to 1%, depending on the length of service, up to age 70 and with a ceiling: the bonused pension never exceeds 90% of the final pay.

Groups with vested rights

Law 60/2005 preserved the old rules for those who already had vested retirement conditions by 31-12-2005 or by 31-12-2007 (for example, 36 years of service in 2005). Those groups have their own formulas, such as a single-part pension R × T ÷ 36 with the pay net of the 10% contribution¹. They are residual cases today: most have already retired. When in doubt, the CGA applies the most favourable formula you qualify for.

A worked example from start to finish

Imagine someone who enrolled in the CGA in 1985, had 25 years of service by the end of 2005 on a relevant pay of €2,000, and worked 15 more years from 2006 on an average pay of €2,200:

The pension is about 79% of the average pay since 2006: compare it with your target in the replacement-rate calculator.

Paid into both the CGA and Social Security?

Careers split across the two regimes can request a unified pension: the periods add up to check guarantee periods and each regime pays its proportional share, computed under its own rules. The request is filed with the regime of the last enrollment. Estimate each share separately: the CGA one in the CGA pension calculator and the general-regime one in the pension estimator.