Colombia: the House saves the pension reform one day before the deadline, and now the Court decides

Colombia's House of Representatives complied with an order from the Constitutional Court and voted again on the pension reform. It did so on October 28, just one day before the deadline.

What the House voted on

The reform is Law 2381, passed in 2024 under President Gustavo Petro. In August 2026, the Court upheld about 90% of the text but sent back nine articles because of flaws in how they were passed.

The House rejected every proposed change and left the law exactly as the Senate approved it.

The fee of up to 0.7% charged by private pension funds stays: the proposal to scrap it lost by 100 votes to 8.

The reduction for women with children also stands: 50 fewer weeks for each child, up to three. That means they can retire with 850 weeks of contributions instead of 1,000.

According to the Finance Ministry, lowering the requirement from 1,000 to 850 weeks for these women adds 64.9 trillion pesos to pension liabilities.

What happens next

The Speaker of the House, Nicolás Barguil, must send the records to the Court. Its full bench will have the final say.

The reform is due to take effect on April 1, 2027. But Colpensiones, the public pension fund, has asked to delay it until 2028 to adjust its systems.

How much it would cost

The Finance Ministry estimates about 16.25 trillion pesos in extra spending in 2027 that is not in the budget. Of that, 10.85 trillion would go to the solidarity pillar, with up to 4.6 million potential beneficiaries.

The Centro Democrático party has already filed a counter-reform. It argues that the current law would widen the system's deficit.