Pension increase from January 1 of the year. Individual pension capital (IPC). Changes for workers of the Far North

Already from January 1, the labor pension will increase by 3.7 percent non-working pensioners(for old age, disability and loss of a breadwinner). This indexation will be carried out one month earlier than usual, since the Government has decided to index these types pension payments higher than the inflation rate, which in 2017 was at a record low level (less than 3%).

Attention

The moratorium on indexation of pensions in 2018 will be maintained - that is, employed citizens who are already retired will be able to count only for recalculation from August 1 based on accrued pension points for the previous year. They will be able to receive all the indexation missed during the moratorium.

Photo pixabay.com

In addition to the indexation of pension payments, in 2018 there will also be changes in the basics of pension provision for Russian citizens, which will affect the conditions for retirement upon reaching retirement age and the formation of pension rights of working citizens. Another question that concerns pensioners in connection with the onset of the new year is whether there will be such a payment (alas, but no - this time there will be no such payment).

Indexation of pensions in 2018

According to the provisions of Law No. 400-FZ of December 28, 2013, insurance (labor) pensions of citizens must be indexed annually from February 1 to the inflation level of the previous year, and if the Pension Fund has additional financial resources, indexation is carried out again on April 1. But the new year is traditional indexing order labor pensions will change: their increase will occur 1 month earlier - already.

Social pensions and others social payments produced by the Pension Fund, will be promoted as usual to the actual level of price growth for 2017:

At the same time, an increase in insurance pensions. Let us recall that the indexation of pensions for working citizens was suspended in 2016 due to the difficult economic situation in the country. This freeze helped save the state 12 billion rubles. However, all missed indexations must be compensated to the citizen already.

Pension increase from January 1, 2018 (latest news)

In accordance with the law adopted by the State Duma on December 15, 2017 (introduced by the Government as bill No. 274624-7) on changing the procedure for indexing insurance pensions in 2018 all types of pensions (old age, disability, survivors) should increase from January 1, 2018 by 3.7%. The previous procedure for increasing labor pensions is suspended until the beginning of 2019, and this increase does not apply to working pensioners (see the text of the law below).

It should be borne in mind that any insurance pension consists of two parts:

• fixed payment(or FV) is a constant value guaranteed by the state (for all categories of recipients it is set in a fixed amount);
• directly insurance part - this is an individual calculated value, which depends on the number of pension points earned during work.

January indexation will affect both parts of the pension as follows:

1. The fixed payment will be increased by 3.7% and will remain unchanged 4982 rubles 90 kopecks, its increase or decrease is legally established for certain categories of citizens by Law No. 400-FZ of December 28, 2013;
2. The insurance part of the pension directly depends on the points earned by the pensioner, the cost of which will increase from January 1 by 3.7% and amount to 81 ruble 49 kopecks.

Attention

In 2017, actual inflation in the country was recorded at no more than 3%. Consequently, the increase in pensions proposed by the Government by 1.037 times in 2018 formally covers the increase in consumer prices (although, of course, in its absolute value this increase will be very small - the increase will be even less than in previous years).

Increase in social payments to pensioners in 2018 from February 1

From February 1, 2018, there will also be an increase (indexation) of all social payments of the Pension Fund provided for various categories of citizens (disabled people, veterans, heroes of Russia, etc.). They are provided in the form of monthly cash payments (MCB), an integral part of which is also a set of social services (NSS).

In general, NSU consists of three parts (medicines, travel and sanatorium treatment) and is provided at the choice of the pensioner in one of two ways:

• in kind (that is, directly by social services);
• in monetary terms when refusing natural food.

The cost of a set of such services (each part separately) is determined by law and increases in direct proportion to the growth of the monthly payment (EDV) - i.e. by the same percentage. In 2018, this increase is planned at a level of less than 3%, so beneficiaries will hardly feel such an increase. The preliminary values ​​of EDV and NSU in 2018 can be found in the table.

Attention

Thus, from February 1, 2018, it is planned to index social payments (including a set of social services) to the actual inflation level of last year. In the draft Government resolution, this value was fixed at 3.2%, but actual inflation will be less than 3%, so the increase will be even smaller (the same applies to child benefits in 2018).

Indexation of social pension in 2018 from April 1 by 4.1%

Social pension is a special type of pension, which is characterized by the pensioner’s lack of length of service. Such a pension is assigned in a fixed amount approved by law. And, as a rule, the size of social pensions is significantly lower than the calculated labor (insurance) pensions.

It should be noted that in the last two years there has been a decrease in the established growth rates of social pensions. So in April 2017, this type of pension was indexed by only 1.5%. In 2018, it is planned to reach the usual (pre-crisis) increase in the level of this type of pension provision - the projected growth of social pensions in April 2018 will be approximately 4.1%.

Thus, one of the positive changes in 2018 is a more noticeable increase in the cost of living (LS) in the country, including separately by region. At the same time, the established PM allows all non-working pensioners to receive additional payments (the so-called social supplements up to the subsistence level- federal and regional), if the size of their pensions is lower than the approved values.

Attention

According to the law, the level of a citizen’s pension should always be not lower than the subsistence level in the region, in which he lives (hence the seemingly strange statements of the Government that “There are no low-income pensioners in Russia”— they all receive pensions in combination with other social benefits in an amount not less than the monthly minimum wage.

Since 2010, pension applications have already included a section on receiving social benefits. If your pension was assigned before 2010, and you did not submit a separate application for an additional payment, and the amount of the pension is below the established subsistence level in the region, then you must independently contact the territorial bodies of the Pension Fund.

Pension increase in 2018 in Russia for working pensioners

The laws adopted in the State Duma do not provide for any changes for the working population receiving pensions for 2018. This means that working pensioners will continue to receive pension amounts without annual indexation.

This moratorium on pension indexation operates as follows:

• Those citizens who retired before February 1, 2016 and retained workplace, have remained without an increase in their pensions since February 2016.
• For citizens who became pensioners after February 1, 2016, when calculating the individual pension coefficient (IPC), all increases that took place on the date the right to a pension became available are taken into account.
• If you continue to work and simultaneously receive a pension, all subsequent indexations from the date of employment will again not be applied.

Attention

Working pensioners have the right to increase their pension only through annual recalculation according to the employer. From August 1 of each year, the pensions of such citizens increase by the number of points taken into account in the previous year for the period of labor activity and payment of insurance contributions during this period. But no more than 3 points per year!

An example of how working pensioners will recalculate pension indexation in the Pension Fund

A woman born on May 1, 1962, retired in 2017 within the period established by law and continues to work. What indexations will be taken into account when determining the size of the pension? And from what time will the pension stop being indexed?

The calculation of the pension for this woman will be made on the date May 1, 2017. When calculating the IPC, all approved pension growth indices will be taken into account, starting from 2015 to 05/01/2017.

• The cost of one pension coefficient will be taken as of 05/01/2017 - this is 78.58 rubles.
• The fixed payment included in the insurance pension will be taken into account taking into account indexation as of May 1, 2017 and is equal to 4805.11 rubles.

Further, subject to continued performance of paid work, all subsequent indexations of singing after appointment will be suspended. Those. the indexation carried out will no longer be applied to this woman’s pension. And this will continue until she quits her job or is fired by her employer.

Indexation of pension after dismissal of a working pensioner in 2018

In 2017, a law was adopted according to which the period for recalculating pensions after dismissal was changed. In 2018, working pensioners will be able to receive a pension with all missing indexes from the next month after dismissal. At the same time, the pensioner himself will not need to additionally apply to the Pension Fund, since this recalculation is entirely based on the monthly reporting of employers!

Previously, after leaving work, the pensioner received a recalculation of the pension received, taking into account all indexations in three months:

• the first month is the submission of reports to employers to the Pension Fund about citizens working in the organization;
• the second month - data on the fact of work was loaded into a single software package operating nationwide;
• the third is the adoption by the territorial body of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation of a decision on recalculation.

Attention

For citizens who have stopped labor activity in 2018, the period for calculating pensions is reduced, taking into account indexations missed during work. This will be possible after entry into force from January 1, 2018 federal law No. 134-FZ dated July 1, 2017.

However, the process of additional accrual of missed increases will be the same for technical reasons will also take several months. But after this, when paying an already recalculated pension after 3 months, an additional payment will be made for the entire period following dismissal.

This innovation applies only to those who have been laid off. after January 1, 2018. If a pensioner quit, for example, in December 2017, then the indexation of his pension will be carried out only from April 1, 2018 - without additional payment for the period from January to March (in other words, these months will be lost).

Latest news and latest changes in pensions

As has already become clear, the increase in pensions in the new year for most categories of pensioners (barely noticeable) or, as for the large category of working pensioners - . But in the new year demands will increase to already formed pension rights and the level of wages of Russian citizens for retirement:

No other significant changes are expected in the Russian pension system in 2018. In particular, the amount expected by many in the amount of 5,000 rubles will not be paid in 2018- this was a one-time, one-time additional payment that was due to all pensioners in January 2017 in return for the additional indexation required by law that was missed in 2016 (and there is simply no reason to pay it in 2018).

Attention

And one of the few truly good news for Russians is that no decision has yet been made on what is relevant for those who are still working or planning to retire (including men born in 1958 and women born in 1963).

Will there be a one-time payment of 5,000 rubles to pensioners in 2018?

At the beginning of 2017, recipients of all types of pensions, regardless of the fact of work, received an additional payment in the amount of 5,000 rubles. This measure was necessary in the current economically unstable situation.

Against the backdrop of a high level of inflation and the impossibility of carrying out additional indexation of pensions, in 2016 a decision was made to make a one-time payment to citizens’ pensions (Law No. 385-FZ of November 22, 2016). Thus, the pensions of Russians were “conditionally re-indexed”, many of whom perceived this simply as a New Year’s gift.

Currently, according to the Government, the economic situation in the country is normalizing. Over the past 12 months, the increase in consumer prices (inflation) does not exceed 3%, and pensions in 2017 rose in total according to two indexations by 5.78%.

Will there be an increase in the retirement age in 2018 (latest news)

In the last few years, the most discussed and acute issue for Russians is question of increasing the retirement age. In many other countries, including post-Soviet ones, corresponding decisions have already been made and are being implemented.

• For example, from January 2017 in Belarus there will be an annual increase retirement age six months until women reach 58 years of age and men reach 63 years of age. In Kazakhstan, the same values ​​apply - for women at 58 years old, for men at 63 years old.
• In many developed countries, such as Germany, men become pensioners at 65 years old, and women at 60 years old.
• In Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law on pension reform, which also included an increase in the current retirement age.

Attention

Now this issue has come to a head in Russia. According to the Government, it is primarily due to the fact that the working age in the country is increasing - i.e. About a third of Russians already stop working later than retirement.

However, due to the great unpopularity of this measure, the Russian Government has not yet made a final decision on extending the retirement age (although many consider this issue resolved and note that it will most likely begin to be implemented after the next presidential elections, which will be held in March 2018 — but for now these are just rumors).

How many points and work experience do you need to retire in 2018?

Since 2015, a point system for calculating labor (insurance) pensions for citizens has been in effect, in which the amount paid to the Pension Fund by the employer insurance premiums for their employees are converted from rubles to relative values ​​(points). The amount of contributions taken into account for the year is correlated with the maximum accountable amount of contributions approved by the Government, which corresponds to 10 pension points(this is the maximum that can be received in one year).

But in order to obtain the right to retire in old age within the generally established time limits, it is necessary to comply three mandatory conditions:

• reaching the age established by law;
• availability of insurance (work) experience;
• the presence of an established value of the individual pension coefficient (IPC) or, in other words, the size of pension points.

It should be noted that this only applies to old age pensions! Other types of pensions for compulsory pension insurance (disability, survivors) are appointed independently on the length of work (insurance) experience and the number of points received.

Attention

Since 2018, a mandatory condition for granting a pension upon reaching retirement age (currently 55 years for women and 60 years for men) is the availability of 9 years of experience and 13.8 points individual pension coefficient (IPC).

An example of calculating pension points from 2015 to 2018

For a man born in 1965, he has an official salary before income tax (NDFL) of 30,000 rubles (accordingly, annual earnings are 360,000 rubles). Let’s assume that this citizen’s salary has never increased since 2015. At the same time, deductions are not made for him to the funded part of the pension, since he was born before 1967. Thus, the employer pays insurance premiums for this man to an individual personal account in the amount of 16% of earnings before personal income tax - that is, 16% × 360,000 = 57,600 rubles per year. Let's calculate how many points this man has earned since 2015, when the new pension formula came into effect.

Every year the Government approves for these purposes the so-called salary cap, the amount of mandatory contributions from which to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation to a citizen’s individual personal account is 16%. Thus, the maximum established salary in the country from 2015 to 2018 is the following values ​​(see table below).

In 2018, the insurance base for contributions to the Pension Fund will be 1,021,000 rubles according to Government Decree No. 1378 dated November 15, 2017. Then maximum size insurance premiums taken into account for the year, taken for 10 points, will be 163,360 rubles (an increase compared to 2017 by almost 17%).

Attention

Therefore, every ruble earned in 2018 will “depreciate” when transferred to pension points relative to 2017 by immediately 1 - (1 / 1.17) = 15%, and relative to the level of 2015 - by more than 30! Therefore, it is not enough to have only a constant high salary to form decent pension rights. So that their volume does not decrease from year to year, according to the new pension formula salary must grow by at least 10% per year(see table above).

Let's return to our example. To convert monthly earnings of 30,000 rubles into points, you need to correlate the salary data (taking 16% of annual earnings, which in the example under consideration will be 57,600 rubles per year) to the established limit values ​​and multiply by 10:

• 57600 / 113760 × 10 = 5.06 points earned by a citizen in 2015;
• 57600 / 127360 × 10 = 4.52 points in 2016;
• 57600 / 140160 × 10 = 4.11 points in 2017;
• 57600 / 163360 × 10 = 3.53 points will be earned in 2018.

In 2019-2020 there will be significant changes in relation to pension legislation. The government has prepared a number of amendments that will be aimed mainly at optimizing pension contributions for people with disabilities of various categories.

Will there be an increase in pensions for disabled people on January 1, 2020?

According to statistics, today only 20 percent of people with disabilities can support themselves by earning their own money. The rest depend on social income. In this regard, the issue of pensions in 2020 remains one of the most pressing.

From January insurance pensions non-working pensioners will increase by the inflation rate for 2019 - approximately 3.7%. As a result, the average annual old-age insurance pension, taking into account the fixed payment in 2020, will be 13,857 rubles. Along with the insurance pension, the size of the fixed payment to it will increase to 5,123.35 rubles, as well as the cost pension point– up to 81.49 rubles (in 2019 – 78.58 rubles). State pension pensions, including social ones, will be increased from April 1 for both working and non-working pensioners by 4.1%. As a result, the average annual social pension will be 9,103 rubles. The average social pension for disabled children and people with disabilities from childhood of group I will be 12,577 rubles. From January 1, the size of the monthly cash payment (MCB) received by federal beneficiaries will be indexed by 4.1%. Pensioners who worked in 2019 will have their insurance pensions increase in March 2020. The maximum increase is the monetary equivalent of three pension points

How have pensions changed over the last 5 years?

Pensions for disabled people are calculated based on the established disability group, thus it is possible to increase pensions for those categories of citizens whose disability group is higher than the required degree of disability.

There are 2 types of disability pension payments:

• social disability pension;
• disability labor pension.

The fixed basic size of the disability pension in the Russian Federation was introduced in 2012, and it corresponds to the size of the basic parts of the labor pension. Depending on the income of the Pension Fund and the growth of average wages in the country, the government Russian Federation adopts resolutions on indexation of the fixed pension amount.

From 2016 sizes average pension For Russian pensioners are:

• for old age - 13045 rubles;
• for loss of a breadwinner - 8992 rubles;
• for disability - 8553 rubles.

The increase in disability pensions was carried out on April 1, 2016, they were increased by 4%, and social payments (DEMO, NSU, EDV) also increased by 7%. The increase in disability pension was:

• for disabled people of group I - 380 rubles;
• for disabled people of group II - 190 rubles;
• for disabled people of group III - 160 rubles;
• for disabled children - 450 rubles.

A social pension for disabled people is assigned if the citizen belongs to one of the following categories: disabled children, disabled children, elderly people (women 60 years old and men 65 years old), disabled people (I, II and III) groups who have not yet been insured in the unified pension insurance system and have not developed the required work experience, which gives the right to receive a labor pension for disability or old age.

Citizens from among the indigenous peoples of the North who have reached the required age (50 years for women, 55 years for men) also have the right to receive a social pension. Children who have lost one of their parents or orphans who were not insured in the pension insurance system and have not yet acquired the right to receive a labor pension (due to this circumstance) in the event of the loss of a breadwinner can still apply for a social pension. If a citizen was recognized as disabled before January 2011, then the amount of the pension is established without additional examination and he will be given the choice of the most profitable option for calculating the amount of the pension.

A labor pension for disabled people can be assigned only if there is at least 1 day insurance period. When a disabled person does not have such experience, a social pension is paid. For disabled people of group III, the pension is calculated taking into account the entire length of service that was completed before 2002. If disability was assigned earlier than this period, then the maximum length of service coefficient is set to 0.3.

A citizen can apply for recalculation of his pension if his disability group has changed:

• more than high group disability, the new pension amount is paid from the date of the relevant decision by the authorized body of the state medical and social examination service;
• a lower disability group was established, the pension is paid from the 1st day of the month following the month for which the previous disability group was established.

Based on the personal pension file of each disabled person, the amount of the disability pension is recalculated. To do this, it is necessary to provide additional information to the territorial bodies of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation at the place of residence. Required documents based on the results of the internship.

What was the last increase in pensions for disabled people?

In 2019, there was a slight increase in pensions for disabled people. Disabled people of the first group and people with disabilities from childhood of the second group received 412 rubles more. Disabled people of group 2 for 206 rubles. The pension of disabled people of group 3 increased by 175 rubles. Group 1 disabled people since childhood and disabled children will receive 495 rubles more. We should also not forget that disabled people are also entitled to a Monthly Cash Payment or EDV; the amount of EDV depends on the disability group, as well as on whether the social package is monetized or in kind, that is, in the form of benefits (free medicines, sanatorium treatment, travel to the place of treatment). This payment is also indexed annually.

How much will pensions for disabled people be indexed in 2020?

Today, the economy of our country is going through difficult times due to the global crisis, which negatively affects the Russian budget. Sanctions and lower prices on the oil market have a negative impact on the economy and its stability. To overcome the consequences of the crisis, the authorities were forced to take a number of unpopular measures, reducing the amount of payments to specialists in the public sector, and abandoning indexation, which served as the main measure that made it possible to annually increase the size of pension payments. This became the cause of dissatisfaction among many pensioners.

However, already in 2020, disabled people receiving pensions will be able to count on an increase in the amount of payments due to indexation. The amount of indexation will correspond to the inflation rate budgeted for next year at 5 percent. Indexation will increase the amount of pension received by an average of 200-300 rubles.

Every day, Russian pensioners impatiently read articles that can at least somewhat answer the question of when and by how much their monthly pension allowance will be raised. In this regard, it is worth recalling that the price of a pension point in the Russian Federation increased on January 1, 2018 and now it is limited to 81.57 rubles.

In 2018, Russian pensioners will see a triple increase in pensions. True, we are talking about promotion once for three different categories recipients of payments - labor and social pensions, as well as pensions for working pensioners. In general, the draft budget does not contain anything new - everything is as usual. True, officials nevertheless decided to make some amendments to this process. In particular, the Ministry of Finance promised that pensions for old people who retired and left the workforce would be increased by a factor exceeding the inflation rate. Time will tell whether this is true.

The social pension in the Russian Federation will be increased from April 1

Representatives of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation remind that the social pension will increase from April 1 by 4.1%, in 2019 - by 3.9%, in 2020 - 3.6%. Social payments will be indexed by 4%.

Increase in labor pensions in 2018

Pensions for non-working Russians were increased by 3.7% from January 1, 2018. Such figures are indicated in the main parameters of the Pension Fund’s budget for this year. The price of a pension point increased from January 1, 2018 from 78.58 rubles to 81.57 rubles. The new pension amount is also fixed for the 2019–2020 planning period. The average annual old-age insurance pension will increase by 2020 to 14.9 thousand rubles against 13.2 thousand rubles in 2016, or 1.13 times. The average annual old-age insurance pension for non-working pensioners will increase by 2020 to 15.5 thousand rubles.

Increase in social pensions in 2018

According to the Pension Fund of Russia, the average annual social pension will be 8.854 thousand rubles, in 2019 - 9.476 thousand rubles. The social pension will increase from April 1 by 4.1%, in 2019 - by 3.9%, in 2020 - 3.6%. Social payments will be indexed by 4%.

Indexation of pensions for working pensioners in 2018

Pensioners who continue to work should not expect an increase in their pensions in 2018. In order to resume indexation of pensions and receive it in the current amount, the pensioner must stop working or work unofficially.

Officials assure that pension increases will be “decent”

What does real pension growth represent in the eyes of the Russian Cabinet of Ministers? On this moment The average pension in the country is 13.65 thousand rubles. In the event of an increase in the inflation rate, the pension will increase to 14.09 thousand rubles, with an increase that exceeds the inflation rate - 14.16 thousand rubles. It turns out that the real increase in pensions will be, roughly speaking, an average of 70 rubles. For those whose pension is below average, the increase will also be lower.

“Increasing the level of material support” for the elderly for the next 2 years is also included in the forecast created by analysts of the Ministry of Economic Development. However, this formulation has not changed in the macroeconomic forecast of officials for many years, which does not change anything. Let us turn, in particular, to the official statistics of past years.

As Rosstat reports tell us, in 2014, real pensions of old people, adjusted for the official inflation rate, increased by 1%. In 2015-16, there was no more growth - the fall in real payments totaled 7.5%. Such a drop hardly indicates an increase in the level of well-being. Interestingly, the Ministry of Economic Development previously predicted a higher inflation rate than the Ministry of Finance envisages. They budgeted about 5% for the current year, 4.5% for the next year, and about 4% for 2019. It is already clear today that their forecasts are not destined to come true.

Raising the retirement age in Russia from 2019 is one of the most pressing and painful issues facing the Russian authorities. The difficulties caused by the lack of money to make payments and maintain the incomes of Russian pensioners at an acceptable level are due to many reasons, with the demographic situation being the most important. The gap in generations, inherited by Russian society since the Second World War, will manifest itself with all its severity by 2030-2040, when there will be 2-3 pensioners for every working person. These circumstances confront the Russian leadership with the need to carry out reforms, the content of which should be considered in detail.

Pension reform 2019-2020: what will change?

In the summer of 2017, the Government of the Russian Federation presented draft law No. 489161-7 for consideration by parliamentarians, containing a whole series of amendments to the modern pension legislation. The main content of the reform comes down to increasing the age when Russians will have the right to retire on an official pension. The reformers' plans are presented in the annex to the bill. In general, the change involves a gradual increase in the officially approved retirement age for males - by 5 years by 2028; for women - by 8 by 2034. It is planned to gradually raise the minimum age required for working Russians to start receiving payments. Men born in 1966 and later will be able to retire at age 65.

Scheme and graph of age increases by year

Pros and cons: arguments of the parties

Among the arguments given by supporters of reforming the pension system, a significant place is occupied by the change in the average life expectancy of Russians. According to government statistical services, over the past 2 decades there has been a steady trend of increase in life expectancy. Since the late 90s, this figure has increased by almost 10 years for men and more than 5 years for women. Naturally, the needs of the social security system are increasing significantly, and subsequently the total level of expenditures of public and private funds that solve the problem of financing the pensions of Russians increases.

Supporters pension reform rightly note that in the current circumstances there will not be enough money to make payments to pensioners and pension system will cease to fulfill its obligations. There are two scenarios for the development of events, where one involves a forced reduction in payments to below the subsistence level, and the second assumes maintaining high levels of payments, but ends with the complete exhaustion of all funds and the subsequent inability to pay anything at all. When carrying out reforms, their supporters propose an annual increase in pension payments, starting next year.

Following the arguments of supporters of legislative reform, changes in the timing of retirement for Russians will increase the total and average amounts of payments. The planned indexation assumes an increase in the average pension by one thousand rubles annually from 2019 to 2024. If at the time of the start of the reforms, the average amount of payments received by a pensioner in hand was about 14 thousand rubles per month, then by 2024 this amount will reach 20 thousand rubles per month. In addition, the changes will allow maintaining the current parameters of the fund deficit, excluding all sorts of excesses in the future. It is worth saying here that there are also many complaints about the reform.

Who is against the draft law?

Last news with the promulgation of the bill caused a wide public outcry, and in a number of cities of the Russian Federation, protests resulted in organized rallies and demonstrations. Opposition parliamentary parties and leaders of the so-called non-systemic opposition opposed the reform of pension legislation. Among their arguments present among the objections to the reform, the main one is raising the retirement age to the average life expectancy. According to the provisions of the reform, the retirement age of men will reach 65 years by 2024, while on average in the Russian Federation in 2018, men lived only a couple of months longer.

It is worth noting here that while the trend of increase in average life expectancy has emerged in recent years, it should not be considered stable and unchanged. Gaps in positive dynamics and declines in life expectancy already occurred in the early 90s and are still being observed in a number of regions. The reform project does not have a final link to indicators of increase in life expectancy, and therefore a situation where the retirement age exceeds the life expectancy of Russians may very well turn out to be. Of course, this argument should not be considered the only objection voiced by opponents of the reform.

The lack of money to make payments to pensioners can be compensated in various ways, including by reducing the volume of theft of funds from state budgets, as well as reducing the level of misuse. According to the Accounts Chamber, over the past year the value of such expenses approached 2 trillion rubles, while in another 3-4 years it hardly exceeded 600 billion. Such a scale is not only amazing in its size, but also comparable to general needs pension funds and could easily cover all shortfalls in the Pension Fund’s current or future expenses. In addition, complaints are also being made about the targeted expenditures of the current government.

Expenses for the Olympics, holding football competitions, and organizing large-scale construction of bridges and stadiums also require significant funds, which, however, are not misused. The possibility of redirecting this money to cover payments to the Pension Fund undoubtedly exists, but the very decision to decouple pension payments from current ones is controversial here wages and their size. The costs of such projects are typically paid for with funds generated from the sale of fossil fuels, market values ​​that vary significantly from year to year. Any drop in oil prices in such a situation could lead to an acute shortage of funds and make the payment of pensions impossible.

One way to solve the problem of the shortage of funds for payments would be to significantly increase the level of wages. The current level of wages in Russia is noticeably lower than in Europe and in a number of industries has already become lower than in China. It is no secret that it is from wages that funds are deducted to private and public funds, and therefore it is quite natural that an increase in wages will lead to an increase in deductions, but these measures are not even being considered. In addition to these factors, it would not be out of place to mention the existence of preferential categories of working Russians.

Benefits and preferential categories

With all the current and future problems of financing pension funds, in Russia there are a lot of preferential categories of workers, among which there are plenty of not only 50-year-old pensioners, but also people who retired long before their fiftieth birthday. We are talking here mainly about civil servants, including:

1. Officials.
2. Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal Penitentiary Service.
3. Workers of the Far North.
4. For teachers and doctors.

It is worth considering each of the above-mentioned preferential categories of workers and employees separately, with full details of all the changes that will affect them.

Changes in the procedure for calculating pensions for civil servants

The officials became the first among Russians to be affected by the reform. It was with civil servants that, as early as January 1, 2017, the increase in the amount of the minimum required work experience began. The changes, designed for the next decade, will culminate in an increase in the retirement age for men in the civil service to 65 years and for women to 63 years. At the same time, the minimum length of service required for officials to retire will also increase. So, if in 2017 an official who worked for 16 years could become a pensioner, then in 2019 he will need to work for 17 years, in 2023 - 19, and by 2025 the minimum work experience of civil servants will be 20 years. At the same time, pension amounts for officials vary from 45-80% of salary and depend on their length of service.

How will the changes turn out for employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal Penitentiary Service?

Law enforcement officers have a number of pension benefits. To date, these benefits allow you to reach state pension“according to length of service”, having reached 46 years. Get minimum pension An employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs can do so after working 12.5 years in the system and having 25 years of cumulative work experience. Actually, pension provision, assigned according to length of service, currently requires an employee to work in law enforcement agencies for 20 years. The provisions of the reform provide for a gradual increase in this period to 25 years. There is also a draft law allowing for an increase in length of service to 30 years, but it is not being considered at the moment.

Changes for workers of the Far North

Current legislation provides for significant benefits for workers and employees working in the Far North. The reform of pension legislation also affects these categories of workers. Raising the retirement age for workers in the Far North will affect both men and women. The final stage of reform for males occurs in 2028, when their official retirement age reaches 60 years. For women, the end of the reforms will be completed only by 2034 with a target of 58 years. It is worth noting that despite all the current changes, this category of pensioners retains significant benefits compared to other categories of working Russians.

What will change for doctors and teachers?

Currently, for Russians working in the field of education and healthcare, there is a system of benefits that allows them to retire after 25 years of work as a doctor or teacher. The provisions introduced with amendments to the current pension legislation suggest that at the end of the reform, workers in these categories will be required to work for at least 30 years in their specialty. The increase in the length of special work experience will be carried out in stages until 2026 for men and 2034 for women. This change should not be considered the only point of the reform proposed by the Government. The period that separates the date of receiving special work experience from the day of retirement will also increase. This period will already be 1 year in 2019, and by the time the reform is completed it will reach 8 years for all workers, regardless of gender.

An increase in the pensions of non-working pensioners in 2018, the Minister of Labor and social protection Maxim Topilin called it quite serious. But experts believe that the effect of the last months of the year can easily “eat up” the increase, and in fact we will see indexation comparable to the inflation rate.

Indexation above inflation

It is incorrect to call the indexation of pensions in Russia low, since it is indexed significantly higher than inflation, head of the Ministry of Labor Maxim Topilin said during a meeting on social policy in the Federation Council. He called the increase in pensions of non-working pensioners in 2018 quite serious, adding that nowhere in the world, unless it is Africa or some kind of crisis, are pensions indexed by 7%. Note that from January 1, 2018, pensions for non-working pensioners in the Russian Federation will be indexed by 3.7%.

“Mr. Topilin’s statement that Russian pensions will be indexed above inflation, requires clarification. They will only index above inflation social pensions. They will grow by 4.1%, which is higher than the level expected for annual inflation in 2017. As for the values ​​for non-working pensioners, disputes are already beginning here between official forecasters and expert feelings.

For example, the Ministry of Economic Development predicts annual inflation at the level of 3.3 - 3.4%, taking into account the fact that in September they expect to see its value of about 3.1 - 3.2% in annual terms. But the last months of the year are traditionally filled with inflation risks, so we will definitely see an acceleration. Mr. Topilin’s statement has a right to exist given the current expectations of the Ministry of Economic Development, but the expectations of the Central Bank itself are more cautious here,” comments FBA "Economy Today" Head of Finance and Economics of the Institute modern development Nikita Maslennikov.

Indexation 2019

The regulator highly estimates the likelihood of seeing inflation below 4%, but most likely it will be at the level of 3.6-3.7%, and maybe even 3.8%, the expert suggests. In this case, indexation for non-working pensioners fits exactly into the inflation rate of 2017. As Maslennikov explains, such risks are associated with the traditional budget issue for the last month of the year.

“Reasonably good rates of wage growth can cause a certain revival of consumer demand, which can create a pre-inflationary effect. It is also impossible to exclude the influence of individual risks of the global economy, although they will probably still carry over into next year.

Next year the situation with inflation will be much more complicated. The Central Bank does not rule out the possibility that exceeding the target in annual terms could happen sometime in the first half of the year. And although the Central Bank never said that it would keep inflation at 4% forever, nevertheless, the inflation that we gain in 2018 will become the basis for indexation in 2019,” the economist sums up.