Experts explained who and under what conditions can count on an increase in pension payments
The approaching August promises to be a “fruitful” month for Russian pensioners in terms of increasing their monthly payments. No, let’s say right away: they do not provide for any mass indexations for the last month of summer. But on the other hand, a targeted and targeted increase in payments is planned for several categories of Russians who are on a well-deserved retirement. Who has the right to an increase, and under what conditions it will be possible to receive it — “MK” figured it out with the help of experts.
This adjustment occurs traditionally and monthly. In August, those who celebrated their 80th birthday in July will be able to count on an increased pension. Their fixed payment to the insurance pension is immediately doubled (8134 rubles 88 kopecks). Accordingly, they will already receive 16 269 rubles 76 kopecks. A similar doubling occurs when a pensioner is recognized as a disabled person of group 1 or a person with a disability of group 2 receives group 1. Note that the increase in payments occurs for one of these two reasons. For example, upon receipt of the specified disability group, the payment will increase, but when this pensioner reaches 80 years of age, an increase in the pension is no longer provided, and vice versa. The Social Fund of Russia (SFR) processes such payments automatically; pensioners do not need to apply there on their own.
Note that according to official statistics, Russian citizens who have reached the age of 80 are approximately 4% of the country's population. And for them, such an increase in payments from the state is extremely important, emphasized Alexander Safonov, a professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation: “This is due to the fact that they need more money for medicines or for help around the house. At the same time, age does not, as a rule, allow you to earn extra money yourself.”
A pension supplement is provided to former flight crew members and coal industry workers. It is provided for by law and is formed from funds that employers transfer during their work activities in connection with harmful, stressful and dangerous working conditions. The amount of additional payment for such pensioners is adjusted four times a year – from the first day of February, May, August and November. The amount of additional payment is individual and depends on length of service and average monthly salary.
If we talk about flight crew members who are counting on an increase, these are pilots, navigators, mechanics, and flight attendants. You can get a raise if you have worked in the relevant position for at least 25 years — for men, for women — at least 20 years. There is a special fund where employers transfer additional funds from the salaries of existing flight crew members. There are about 35 thousand recipients today. Recalculation takes place depending on revenues to the fund and changes in average salary.
Employees of coal industry organizations will also not be left without a raise. For them, length of service is of great importance. The additional payment is due if a person has worked for 25 years in underground and open-pit mining operations for coal and shale extraction and in mine construction, and 20 years as workers in leading professions — face miners, drifters, and chipper operators. If a person is unable to perform their duties due to illness, their length of service is reduced by 10 years.
As economist Andrey Loboda, director of communications at BitRiver, clarifies, we are talking about targeted additional payments that are assigned based on a certain length of service in a position listed in the law. At the same time, it is important that retirement occurs precisely from the position that gives the corresponding right to a bonus. The expert paid special attention to the importance of additional payments to former miners. In his opinion, they are designed, first of all, for residents of new regions of the Russian Federation — in particular Donbass, known throughout the world for its coal mines. Therefore, this will be a good addition for pensioners of the new Russian territories who have dedicated their working lives to coal mining, says Andrei Loboda.
This kind of recalculation concerning working pensioners, of whom there are 8.75 million people in Russia today, traditionally occurs every year from August 1. As you know, pension payments for this category have been frozen since 2016, and “unfreezing” will take place only next year.
But all these years, the pension of working pensioners has been increasing due to the accumulated individual pension coefficients (points) from the employer’s contributions for the previous year. For each working pensioner, the recalculation is individual (depending on his earnings and employer payments to the Social Fund for him), and the resulting amount – Same. But at the same time, every year on August 1, the SFR makes an automatic recalculation of the insurance part without applications from the pensioner. By law, the maximum increase per year cannot exceed three points, even if the person earned more. This year the cost of one point is 133.05 rubles. Consequently, the maximum bonus that a working pensioner can receive from August 1 is 399.15 rubles. The maximum increase, which does not even reach 400 rubles, may seem insignificant, especially for those who continue to work and earn, points out Oleg Kalmanovich, chief analyst at Neomarkets. In his opinion, this restriction may cause discontent among working pensioners. “It is obvious that not all pensioners receive the same benefit from indexation, since the increase is limited to three pension coefficients, regardless of the points actually earned,” says the expert. At the same time, in his opinion, there are tangible advantages from the recalculation: it makes it possible to partially compensate for the impact of inflation on the incomes of pensioners. “Given the current fairly high level of inflation (about 9% on an annualized basis), even such a modest increase in pensions is an important step to preserve the purchasing power of older people,” the analyst concludes.