The French should work longer to get a full pension, public sector workers’ pension rules must be brought closer to those of the private sector and pensioners should get fewer tax rebates, an advisory report said last week.

The study – which the Government has said is of consultative value – proposes only a fractional increase in employers’ contributions after the European Commission and IMF both recommended that employers should not see their costs rise.

The objective is to balance the loss-making French pension system by 2020.

The Government has said it will study proposals from the report but is not bound by them for its planned overhaul of the pension system later this year.

“The committee considers that increasing the duration of contribution is the most relevant way of adapting the pension system... to longer life expectancy,” the report said.