In 2016, important changes will take place in the Russian pension system. The issue of pension provision is traditionally topical for Russians, since almost 41 million people receive pensions.
Indexation of pensions in 2016
According to the law, pensions must be increased twice: at the beginning of the year by the rate of inflation and the second time in April. The second increase is made only if the PFR's income for 2015 is higher than inflation.
However, the lack of funds in the budget forced legislators to change the existing mechanism. As a result, pensions are expected to be indexed in 2016 by only 4%. Thus, the growth of pensions will be much lower than the expected inflation in 2015 (according to preliminary forecasts, it will reach 12%).
There were statements that the pension will be increased again in the fall in order to equalize it with the actual inflation in 2015. But the exact size of the re-index is unknown. Moreover, the question of whether the government will increase pensions for the second time in general has not been fully resolved. Everything in this case depends on the economic situation.
According to preliminary data, the average pension in 2016 will be 13.6 thousand rubles, fixed payments - 4.56 thousand rubles. The average social pension will be 8, 56 thousand rubles. If the pension is below the regional minimum, then the state will make an additional payment up to the specified value.
The bill that calls for the abolition of pensions for working pensioners caused a great public outcry. But as a result, the amendments to the legislation were adopted in a softer version. The latest news on pensions for working pensioners says that they will receive payments in the same amount, but there will be no 4% indexation. As long as pensioners continue to work, their pensions will not grow, and recalculation will be carried out after dismissal.
In April 2016, payments to working pensioners will be adjusted taking into account the contributions made for them by the employer in 2015.
The moratorium on the formation of the funded part of the pension was also extended for 2016. Thanks to this, the government was able to reduce the transfer from the budget to the Pension Fund of Russia by 342 billion rubles.
Are Russians threatened by an increase in the retirement age?
Today women can retire at 55 and men at 60. The retirement age has not changed in our country since 1932. During this time, the number of pensioners has increased, and the number of working citizens, from whose salaries taxes are paid, has decreased. As a result, the deficit of the pension fund is growing. Therefore, the issue of raising the retirement age has recently been repeatedly discussed by the government.
Various alternatives for solving the problem have been proposed. This is the setting of the bar at the level of 60 years for men and women; raising the age by 3 years or 5 years; or an annual systematic increase by six months. In 2016, no increase in the retirement age is expected. It can be assumed that this issue will be repeatedly raised at the government level and in the coming years the government will nevertheless decide to raise the age limit for retirement.
