Millions of Russians expect indexation of pensions from April 1: who will receive and how much

Elderly people without experience and points will have their payments indexed by 7.5%

The next indexation of pensions is scheduled for April 1 – and this is not a joke! True, not all elderly Russians expect an increase in payments, but only those who receive social pensions. However, there are quite a few of them in the country – their number exceeds 4 million people. The size of monthly payments for them will increase by 7.5% – which exceeds last year’s official inflation rate.

Good news for 4.1 million Russians – recipients of social pensions – was announced by the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation. In total, the federal budget has allocated 37.5 billion rubles for indexation, starting on April 1. As noted in the ministry’s statement, “the amount of indexation of social pensions is annually approved by the government based on the growth rate of the living wage of a pensioner in the Russian Federation over the past year.”

Let us remind you: social pensions are paid to people who do not have sufficient confirmed experience or points to qualify for an old-age insurance pension. For those whose social pension is less than the subsistence level of a pensioner in the region, a social supplement is made, which allows the amount to be increased to this level.

A social pension can be assigned: when disability is established; in case of loss of a breadwinner; children whose both parents are unknown; by old age. Such pensions are assigned 5 years later than usual, that is, at 70 and 65 years old – for men and women, as well as for foreign citizens and stateless persons who have permanently resided in the Russian Federation for at least 15 years and have reached the specified age. If a person finds a job, but has previously been assigned a social pension, then he will not receive it during his working life.

As for the percentage of indexation of social pensions, last year it was only 3.3%. True, this figure must be considered in conjunction with the unscheduled indexation that occurred in the country in June 2022: then all pensioners’ payments were increased by 10%. Be that as it may, in 2023 the average size of social pensions exceeded 12 thousand rubles – which is more than 10 thousand rubles less than the average insurance pension for non-working pensioners.

Alexei Zubets, a professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, explained such a significant difference in pension payments by the fact that social pensions are awarded to people who have never worked anywhere, do not have work experience, and who were previously denied the right to an insurance pension by the state. According to the expert, among such people there are many people leading an asocial or idle lifestyle. “Accordingly, social pensions are paid by the state on a residual basis,” the professor emphasized.

Economist Andrei Loboda, director of external relations and corporate social responsibility at BitRiver, disagrees with this. “It’s not worth skimping on increasing the social pensions of elderly non-working Russians,” he believes, “after all, many of them gave years of active life to raising children – including in large families.” In addition, according to the expert, not all citizens were able to quickly adapt to the market 30-35 years ago and find work in the new realities. “The state should not leave them to the mercy of fate, just because they did not have enough experience for an insurance pension,” the economist believes.

“Yes, social pensions themselves are very low – in the range from 10 thousand to 14 thousand rubles,” says Loboda, “And it is clear that the upcoming increase in itself will not radically lift people out of their difficult financial situation. But 800-900 rubles a month won’t be extra for them.”