From April 1, pension recipients will face indexation: who will receive and how much

From April 1, social pensions will be indexed in Russia. They are received in old age by those who do not have enough work experience and pension points. Such pensions are also awarded for loss of a breadwinner and disability. Accordingly, in April some specific social payments will be increased, the amount of which is tied to the basic social pension. In total, there are more than 4 million recipients of social pensions in Russia. The government approved the indexation rate for them at 7.5%.

The government decree specifies that the indexation amount is calculated based on the growth rate of the cost of living over the past year. Inflation in 2023 was determined to be 7.4%, so indexation even covers it somewhat. Which, in turn, raises questions. After all, a fair number of social pensioners are those who at one time did not care much about old age. For example, I worked without a work book under a gray scheme – without paying taxes. Or he simply led an idle life, parasitized, and thought that it would always be like this. But “old age and sadness” crept up unnoticed…

The pension payments of such citizens are significantly lower than insurance payments, which seems quite fair. By law, an old-age insurance pension is awarded to a person who has 15 years or more of work experience and has accumulated at least 28.2 pension points. According to the insurance policy, women born in 1966 (at age 58) and men born in 1961 at age 63 will retire this year.

With social pensions, everything is a little different – they are assigned 5 years later than insurance ones. Men and women, respectively, begin to receive them at 70 and 65 years of age.

From April 1, the social pension will be indexed, like the insurance pension, by 7.5%. This, one might say, is a “gift” for the recipients of such a payment. If the insurance pension is increased by the official inflation rate for the previous year or even slightly higher, then social payments are tied to the change in the pensioner’s cost of living. So, from April 1, 2023, their increase was only 3.3% – several times less than the level of inflation at that time.

However, it would hardly occur to anyone to envy recipients of social pensions. After all, on average in 2023, the social pension was 12 thousand rubles, as much as 10 thousand less than the average old-age insurance pension. If “ordinary” pensioners, who are indexed to inflation, complain about a lack of funds, you can imagine what it’s like for “social workers”. It is unlikely that indexation by 7.5% will make their life “sweeter” – if, of course, they live on their pension alone.

But, as a rule, in our society there is no special warmth towards such persons. And there is a certain logic in this. While millions of honest workers “by the sweat of their brow” earned work experience (remember, at least 15 years) and pension points, the majority of social workers evaded paying taxes and worked exclusively for their own pockets. Or they were generally parasitic, leading an asocial or parasitic lifestyle. So, as they say, what’s done is what’s stomped.

Although, as we see, the state also takes care of such citizens and does not abandon them to their fate. Moreover, if the accrued social pension is below the regional subsistence minimum, then they receive social supplements up to the level of this very subsistence minimum.

And one more thing: it turns out that from the category of social pensioners, which is not so prestigious in our country, you can move to the insurance section and live like ordinary veterans, awaiting annual indexation.

The law provides that if a particular Russian does not have enough work experience (and, accordingly, pension points), he can quite legally purchase them. You cannot buy 15 years in full; there are certain limits. It is allowed to purchase no more than half of the experience. Last year, 340 thousand rubles had to be paid for such a service.

“It makes sense to buy additional experience only if a person is missing a year or two of insurance coverage,” Alexander Safonov, a professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, explained to us. “A social pension is assigned if 15 years of experience are missing.” Or it is, and even points were accumulated, but all the years the person had a salary below the subsistence level. In such cases, he is not entitled to insurance payments, only social ones. But everyone who does not meet the insurance requirements, including those who have been released from prison, can count on a social pension. Their work experience is not taken into account.

– Is there such a thing as the average size of a social pension?

– At the end of 2023, it amounted to 12,562 rubles. It is paid according to the subsistence level of the subject of the Federation.

– Some time ago, there were completely sensible proposals in the country to include raising children in the work experience of mothers. As everyone knows, the burden on women is enormous. Is this considered work?

– According to the law, a total of 6 years can be included in the length of service. If there are four children, one and a half years of parental leave for each.