In 2024, pensions for non-working pensioners in the Russian Federation will be indexed by 7.5%

In 2024, as follows from the draft budget of the Social Fund, pensions for non-working pensioners in the Russian Federation will be indexed by 7.5%, according to the inflation rate included in the macro forecast of the Ministry of Economy. As a result, the average old-age insurance payment for unemployed people will be 23.4 thousand rubles. In addition, from next year, due to the introduction of a unified tariff of insurance contributions for employers, provided for by the reform of the association of extra-budgetary funds, as well as the obligation to pay contributions for employees to the state industrial enterprise, the maximum amount of sick leave, maternity leave and child care payments will increase.

As Kommersant learned, the indexation of insurance pensions in 2024 will be 7.5%. This follows from the draft budget of the Social Fund for 2024–2026, which was approved on Friday at a government meeting (Kommersant has the presentation, its authenticity was confirmed by the press service of the Ministry of Labor). This is the first draft budget that was formed after the merger of the Pension Fund and the Social Insurance Fund into a single structure and the introduction of a single tariff for insurance contributions for employers starting this year (for more details, see “Kommersant” dated January 28, 2022).

Let us recall that since 2023 in Russia there are two extra-budgetary funds instead of three: the Pension Fund (PFR) and the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) were merged into a single structure. The reform of the association, as Kommersant wrote then, was a consequence of the creation of a single IT infrastructure for the funds – a single digital platform (UDP), which is now being developed by Rostelecom (for more details, see Kommersant of March 2, 2021). The unified budget of the fund does not imply the consolidation of any items of its expenses in terms of social insurance.

In 2024, the total budget of the Social Fund will be 16.2 trillion rubles, of which 16 trillion will be formed from insurance premiums and transfers from the federal budget, and the remaining amount will be funds from the carryover balance of the fund’s budget for 2023. The fund’s expenses will amount to a similar amount, most of which (10 trillion rubles) will be spent on paying pensions. In the previous version of the fund’s draft budget, the amount of expenses for payments to pensioners was less, since, based on the parameters of the macro forecast of the Ministry of Economy, formed in the spring of this year, the inflation rate in 2023 should not exceed 5.3%. In the current version, as Kommersant already wrote, the inflation rate at the end of this year will be 7.5%, in 2024 it will be reduced to 4.5%, in 2025-2026 – to 4% (for more details, see Kommersant from 12-th of September). As a result of the recalculation, from January 1, 2024, the average old-age insurance pension for non-workers will increase by 1.6 thousand rubles. and will amount to 23.4 thousand rubles. instead of 22.8 thousand rubles predicted in the previous version of budget projections.

The second largest item in the fund’s budget is support for families with children. In total, the fund will spend over 2.2 trillion rubles on the payment of a single benefit, maternity capital, one-time benefits for the birth of a child and other support measures in 2024.

In third place are the costs of sick leave, maternity and child care benefits, for which about 1.1 trillion rubles are budgeted for next year. At the same time, the amount of a number of payments provided for by the social insurance system will increase significantly from 2024. Thus, the maximum amount of temporary disability benefits in 2024 will be more than 122 thousand rubles. per month versus 83 thousand rubles. in 2023. The maximum amount of maternity benefits will increase from 383 thousand rubles. up to 565 thousand rubles. The maximum amount of payments for child care up to 1.5 years for workers will be 49 thousand rubles. per month versus 33.2 thousand rubles. in 2023. The increase in the amount of payments is due to the transition to a single tariff with a new contribution base (in 2023 – 1.9 million rubles per year). In addition, from this year, employers are required to pay social contributions for employees who work under civil contracts. Their number, as follows from the presentation of the draft budget of the funds, is 4 million people.

Anastasia Manuilova