From February 1, Russians will experience massive indexation of social benefits: the amounts have been announced

Professor Zubets: “About 10 trillion rubles will be required for social payments this year”

Russia is on the verge of another large-scale social indexation. From January 1, old-age insurance pensions for non-workers were increased by 7.5% and the minimum wage was increased by 18.5% – the minimum wage. Now it is 19,242 rubles. And from February 1, a new wave of indexations – social payments and benefits – will hit Russians. There are more than 40 types and they affect over 20 million people.

Social payments, as reported by the Ministry of Labor, will be indexed by 7.4%. – in proportion to the inflation rate in 2023. Officially, according to Rosstat, it is 7.42% after almost 12% in 2022.

From February, maternity capital and social supplements to pensions will be increased by the corresponding percentage. Child benefits are a separate block; they affect millions of families. For many of them, assistance from the state is a serious help. Because parents’ salaries, especially in the outback, are not very high.

Thus, one-time benefits for the birth of a child will increase to 24,627 rubles. And for parents working before giving birth, the maximum amount of payments for child care up to one and a half years will be higher. It will be 49 thousand rubles per month, almost 16 thousand more than in 2023. The minimum child care benefit after indexation will be 8,600 rubles. And the maximum will increase to 33,281 rubles per month.

Also, starting next month, unemployment benefits will be indexed – minimum and maximum levels. They will amount to 1613 rubles per month and 13.7 thousand, respectively. The sums are still not so great – you won’t last a whole month on them. But it is gratifying that now such benefits will be indexed annually.

Insurance payments will also increase for various categories of the population: veterans, Heroes of Labor and Russia, disabled people, blockade survivors, liquidators of man-made disasters and a number of other categories…

The increase will also affect a set of social services, which are included in monthly cash payments. From February 1, this figure will increase to 1,547 rubles. Recipients of the benefit, upon their application, can refuse the service in favor of a cash equivalent.

Payments for sick leave will increase. The maximum amount for temporary disability this year, with an insurance period of more than 8 years, will be 122,808 rubles per month. According to the Ministry of Labor, this is a significant increase. Since in 2023 the maximum for sick leave was around 83 thousand rubles.

Probably the most significant increase will occur in maternity capital. For the first child it will be 630 thousand rubles. Holders of increased capital for their second child will receive 833.3 thousand rubles. Last year, these figures were 586 thousand and 775 thousand rubles, respectively. Moreover, maternity capital is indexed regardless of the date of receipt of the certificate. If it is not used in full, then 7.4% will also be charged on the balance.

In general, it is planned that about a million people will apply for maternity capital annually.

According to Alexey Zubets, Doctor of Economics, Professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, about 10 trillion rubles will be required from the federal budget for social payments this year.

“This is the second article of the state budget,” he says. – The amount, as we see, is impressive. However, by and large, increasing payments will not particularly improve the situation of some segments of the population. Poverty in Russia still remains high, even according to official estimates; even according to official estimates, there are tens of millions of people living below the poverty line. Social support from the state must be increased and additional expenditures must be made.

– It is striking that the indexation of social benefits will occur in proportion to annual inflation. But many experts believe that indexation should be carried out ahead of schedule, since for the poorest segments of the population real inflation turns out to be higher than the national average. How do you think?

– Russia has developed National Development Goals until 2030, signed by the President in the summer of 2020. They say that the indexation of pensions should be ahead of inflation. If inflation, according to the updated data, turns out to be higher, then additional indexation of pension payments will be carried out during the year.