Portugal's Civil Service Pension Fund Will Cut 2,937 New Pensions by 93 Euros a Month on Average After a Computer Error

The Caixa Geral de Aposentações (CGA), the pension fund for civil servants, is cutting 2,937 retirement pensions it awarded between May and August 2026, after finding that a fault in its own computer system had set them higher than the law allows. On average, the affected pensioners will lose 93.31 euros a month in gross pension.

The fund confirmed the figures in a statement to Renascença, which put questions to the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security after pensioners complained about cuts. "As a result of a lapse in the parameterisation of its information system, a total of 2,937 retirement pensions were awarded between May and August 2026 at a value higher than that resulting from the legislation in force," the CGA said. "The situation will be corrected," it added, and "everyone will receive the pension the law guarantees them."

What went wrong

According to reporting by Público and Jornal de Negócios, summarised by ECO, the system counted every year of each person's contribution record when it worked out the pension. The law says only the years needed to make up a 40-year career should count. Workers who retired after more than 40 years of service were therefore credited with years that should have been left out of the formula.

The people affected are recent retirees. The CGA has been closed to new members since 2006, so they are long-serving public employees and, given the nature of the error, people with more than 40 years on their record.

Ten days to respond

The CGA has written to each of the 2,937 pensioners, telling them their pension will be recalculated and giving them ten days to contest the decision and to consult their file. This is the prior hearing that Portugal's Código do Procedimento Administrativo (Code of Administrative Procedure) gives anyone before a public body takes a decision against them, and it is the moment to object in writing if the new figure looks wrong.

The fund's statement does not say whether the money already paid above the legal amount since May will have to be returned. ECO reports that this remains unclear. Anyone who receives the letter should note the date it arrived, reply within the deadline and keep a copy of whatever they send.

If the CGA does not answer or the reply seems unfair, a complaint to the Provedor de Justiça (Ombudsman) is free. Our guide to complaining to the Ombudsman in Portugal explains how.

Opposition parties object

The correction has drawn criticism on the left. The Bloco de Esquerda (Left Bloc) called it legally "aberrant" and asked for the process to be suspended urgently, while the PCP (Portuguese Communist Party) argued that the treatment most favourable to the pensioners should prevail, according to ECO. Both parties have asked the finance and labour ministers for a formal explanation.

The question both raise is whether an administrative error can be corrected at the pensioner's expense months after the pension was awarded and paid. The CGA's position, in its own words, is that the pensions were "higher than that resulting from the legislation in force" and must therefore be brought into line.

The cut comes as the government prepares its 2027 budget and promises increases at the other end of the pension scale: the income floor for the poorest pensioners is due to rise to 720 euros a month next year.