Experts talk about social innovations in the middle of summer
In July, Russian pensioners will face important innovations regarding the size and procedure for receiving pension payments. True, they will not affect all elderly citizens in a row who are on a well-deserved rest, but only some, selected categories of pensioners. Who exactly and what amounts will receive starting from July — read the material «MK».
From July 1st military pensioners in new regions will receive pensions according to Russian laws. This applies to residents of the Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. The new rules will also apply to those pensioners who are entitled to military pensions, but they left the new regions before the day they were accepted into the Russian Federation.
Residents who have completed military and equivalent service, as well as members of their families, can apply for payments. But there is a condition: people must have permanently resided in the new regions as of September 30, 2022.
From July 1, the amendments made to the government decree «On the procedure for paying pensions to persons leaving (left) for permanent residence outside the territory of the Russian Federation» come into force. Now it will become easier for Russian pensioners living abroad to confirm the fact of being alive in order to continue receiving payments. Previously, for this it was necessary to personally come to the consular office of the Russian Federation or to the Social Fund of Russia (SFR). Now you can apply to the public services portal by filling out an application of the established form. The application is sent in the form of an electronic document signed with an enhanced unqualified electronic signature.
When a pensioner has a dependent, he has the right to increase the fixed payment to the pension. Eligible dependents are only those who are close relatives: children under 18 years of age (no need to verify dependency) or children between 18 and 23 years of age if they received a disability before adulthood or are studying (confirmed by a certificate from educational institution) and do not work. Also, brothers, sisters and grandchildren under 18 years old or from 18 to 23 years old can still be classified as dependents. Unless, of course, they have other relatives of working age who are required by law to support them.
This increase is established on a declarative basis and requires the provision of documents. Moreover, those who are assigned a social pension (due to lack of service) or a social disability pension are not provided with an increase.
Pensioners who turned 80 in June 2023 will receive an additional 7.5 thousand rubles a month from July. This increase occurs automatically, that is, you do not need to apply anywhere with a separate application. All data on pensioners is now stored in the SFR database, where changes are displayed, and with them pension payments increase.
Some pensioners in this age category may also receive additional payments, which must be applied separately to the Social Fund . Thus, disabled people and pensioners over 80 can receive compensation of 1.2 thousand rubles if they are cared for by an able-bodied citizen.
“There are more than 5.6 million people over 80 in the country, according to Rosstat. This is not just a significant figure, exceeding the total population of even a number of European countries — for example, Finland, Slovakia, Croatia. But this is also a significant share of the population for Russia itself, amounting to almost 4%. A feature of people of this age, among other things, is the increased costs for social needs, for example, for treatment, medicines. In addition, older people who receive a stable pension from the state often support other family members. Therefore, additional payments are very important. It is also important that they are carried out in a non-declarative manner, automatically, since it is often difficult for a person over 80 to collect and provide the necessary documents.
Pensioners who have stopped working will receive an already indexed pension in July. Previously, the recalculation process took three months, and the payment was made on the fourth month after the dismissal. Now the times have been shortened. According to changes in the legislation, the employer must provide information on the termination of employment no later than one working day after the dismissal. And after that, the FIS has a month to make a decision. For example, a pensioner quit his job on May 20, 2023. The reports are received the next day, and the FIS has a month, that is, until June 20, to decide on the recalculation. Consequently, already in July a person receives a pension in a new amount. In addition, he is charged an additional fee for June, taking into account indexation.
“Totally fair decision. A non-working pensioner, unlike an employed one, has the right to indexation of the insurance pension for the inflation rate in the previous year. This smooths out the actual loss of part of the income due to price increases. But in this case, it is natural if a person who has left work will receive such indexation immediately. Now, according to the law, such a period is counted from the second month after the month of dismissal. But payments were actually made only from the fourth month. New technologies and digitalization can shorten this period. All that was needed was a decision on the obligation to quickly transfer information from the employer, which was adopted. But of course, it would be optimal in principle to index pensions for working pensioners as well. Then it would be unnecessary to accelerate accruals to them after leaving work.
“Often, the decision to retire is made by compatriots in a very long period of time, in thought and doubt. Everyone is well aware of the success of the Russian digital treasury, which in a matter of days can accurately calculate and correctly index the amount due to an elderly person. But how to live on a pension of 18 thousand — 25 thousand rubles and not feel humiliated is a very big question.
Undoubtedly, the growth of real incomes of citizens and the maintenance of indexation of pensions at a faster pace will help, at least, not to bring millions of elderly compatriots to the poverty line. But so far, almost 70% of pensioners in the country are forced to save on the most necessary and adhere to a regime of strict spending restrictions. But there is hope that the indexation of pensions will continue to advance at a faster pace. Social support for non-working citizens is already having a positive effect on the poorest segments of the population, primarily non-working pensioners.
There is still a long way to go before reaching a fair pension of about 50,000 rubles. That is why non-material support for non-working pensioners will also play an important role today. It is an important tool in the implementation of a successful social policy. Today, older people are interested in free travel or significant discounts on travel to other cities of the country, social taxis, compensation for medical services, preferential vouchers to sanatoriums. The number of older people in Russia continues to grow rapidly. Decent indexation of pensions, other payments and subsidies will have to be preserved and increased, without this the state will simply weaken its social functions.”