At the same time, back in the spring, Dmitry Medvedev gave instructions to work on this issue

In 2018, there will be no indexation of pensions for working pensioners. This statement was made by Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. At the same time, at the beginning of May of this year, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev gave instructions to study the issue of returning to indexation of pensions for working old people. In addition, the trade unions stated that pensioners are forced to go to work, since it is impossible to live on a pension of 6,200 rubles. But the Ministry of Finance replied that it was “their choice.”

The statement by the head of the Ministry of Finance Anton Siluanov on the indexation of pensions of working pensioners in 2018 was made at a meeting of the Russian Tripartite Commission on Monday.

“For working pensioners, we envisage maintaining the regime that was in effect this year, that is, we do not provide for any indexation for working pensioners,” Interfax quotes the minister as saying.

At the same time, the head of the Russian Independent Trade Union of Coal Industry Workers, Ivan Mokhnachuk, entered into a discussion with him, who noted that because of this, Russians lose the motivation to make pension contributions from their salaries. To this Siluanov replied that the real salaries of working pensioners are growing faster than inflation, so they have the opportunity to have more money and income.

“This procedure is provided for, and we believe that it does not worsen the situation of working pensioners. It is their choice,” the minister added.

Mokhnachuk retorted, saying that “this is not their choice, but a need,” suggesting that the minister try to survive on 6,200 rubles.

“Necessity forces you to make a choice,” said the trade union leader.

“I cannot agree. Every pensioner makes a decision - to work, lead an active lifestyle or retire,” Siluanov put the point.

Let us note that on May 2, on the website of the Russian Cabinet of Ministers, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev appeared to the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development, together with the Pension Fund, to further work on the issue of returning to the indexation of pensions for working pensioners.

After this, the head of the Ministry of Labor, Maxim Topilin, came up with the idea for pensioners to both work and receive an indexed pension. It turns out they quit, apply for an indexed pension, and then some relative of theirs gets a job, for example, as an elevator operator, but the pensioner himself actually works for him.

Let us remind you that the indexation of pensions for working pensioners was canceled in 2016 due to a shortage budget funds. The restrictive measure became permanent after the Pension Fund of Russia (PFR) compiled the budget for 2017 without including a regular increase in payments to working pensioners.

A bill has been submitted to the State Duma proposing to return the indexation of payments to working pensioners. The document on January 15 was posted in the Duma database.

The authors of the bill, LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky and head of the Duma Committee on Labor and Social Policy Yaroslav Nilov, consider it necessary to return to normal indexation of pensions in 2018 for working pensioners. Deputies note that the abolition of indexation had a negative impact on the financial situation of pensioners and led to a significant decrease in the purchasing power of citizens.

Authors in explanatory note Rosstat data provides: as of January 1, 2016, there were more than 15.2 million working pensioners in Russia. It is noted that the report of the Accounts Chamber on budget execution provides information about a sharp reduction in the number of working pensioners in the first quarter of 2016 to 9.6 million people. “As a result, it was not possible to achieve real savings by refusing to index payments to working pensioners; moreover, we had to additionally allocate another 40.6 billion rubles for interbudgetary transfers for compulsory pension insurance. It is important to note that only a part of pensioners actually terminated their employment relationship, while the majority switched to receiving a gray salary,” Zhirinovsky and Nilov believe.

According to the bill, it is proposed to restore indexation for working pensioners from July 1, 2018. According to the calculations of its authors, the average pension will increase by 1,608.66 rubles.

Head of department social development FNPR Konstantin Dobromyslov, commenting on Solidarity’s legislative initiative and the arguments of the deputies, did not agree that working pensioners have gone into the “shadow”.

Version about the departure into the “shadow” of those who work employment contracts, insolvent. If people work under civil contracts, such situations are possible. But today little depends on a pensioner in terms of legalizing labor relations. The employer is responsible for how he organizes the accounting and payment of wages. God forbid, “shadow” schemes are discovered there, he will be in big trouble. Today it is more profitable to work for the “white” than to engage in fraud,” said the trade union leader.

Konstantin Dobromyslov believes that “today such a law can be supported, although it is unpromising.”

FNPR initially took the position that the abolition of indexation for working pensioners was an unpopular and ineffective measure. There is no economic sense in it; it is more of a political and educational nature. After all, according to generally accepted international standards, working pensioners are not paid pensions at all. If we are talking about the insurance system, its main feature is the occurrence of an insured event. In this situation, this is a person’s disability. If he continues to work and does not lose income from work, it can be recognized that the insured event did not occur. But this is a debatable issue. Today, trade unions argue that pensions must be paid to working pensioners. Why? Because our pension is extremely low, and salaries today is also extremely low. And pensioners in our country can live more or less normally, receiving both a pension and a small salary,” Dobromyslov said.

Now we are not even talking about whether it is fair or not that since 2016, working pensioners have been canceled, which is held annually on February 1. After all, the pensioner deserved the opportunity to work with his entire previous life, his health and caring attitude towards it.

If he has the opportunity to work, it means his health allows him, it means his attitude to life is such that he has the opportunity, desire, desire to benefit society. And why, in this case, “punish” the pensioner - since you have the opportunity to work, then we are depriving you of indexation!

Where is the respect for years!? Respect for the desire to be useful. Well, respect, let it be, for the desire to work even for the sake of more income, which means that the pension is not enough!

• how many pensioners work,
• How long do they still have the opportunity to work (5-7 years, no more),
• what is this indexing?

This is what happens.

By law, indexation (non-working) must be the inflation rate for the previous year. Thus, the old-age pension insurance increased by 3.7% from January 1, 2018. If the pension is 8,500 rubles, then in the end it will be increased by 314 rubles.

Over the course of a year, such indexation will increase the total income of a pensioner by 3,768 rubles.

In the country, let there be 5 million workers (every eighth, most likely less).

We get that the state would “lose” every year on working pensioners (as if pensioners are not the state itself, but what can you do, this perverted understanding of the individual and the state, which has been ingrained in us for a long time, still sits, comes out with great labor),

in general, it would “lose” - 27 billion 540 million rubles.

The money is, of course, a lot. But, on the other hand, only in the State Reserve Fund and the National Welfare Fund - these “rainy day funds” - Russia stores more than 5 trillion rubles. This money is for 50 years to pay indexation to working pensioners!

But, of course, that’s not the point. It's not about money, but about the ability to manage it and, most importantly, respect. More accurately, it’s a matter of lack of respect, when the state “pettily” keeps track of every “penny”, so as not to miss anything too much.

And this is in relationships with pensioners who also “dare” to work!

Be that as it may, in Russia working pensioners are deprived of indexation due to inflation.

But the period of recalculation of pensions for working pensioners has begun based on pension contributions made by their employers in 2016.

We are dealing with the recalculation for the working year 2017

Since, in pension system Russia has done everything to confuse and not allow them to really understand the essence of the matter, then they appear in the accrual - in 2018, the accrual is limited to 8.7 pension points. Each ball had a “weight” of 81 rubles 49 kopecks.

In other words, the maximum pension supplement will be only approximately 708 rubles per month. This bonus corresponds to the average salary for 12 months – 19 thousand 900 rubles. If a pensioner received more, if his employer contributed interest on 30 thousand to the Pension Fund (and in Moscow a pensioner can find a salary that is much more), then the bonus will still be 708 - from 19.9.

Where the difference goes is a big question for the Ministry of Finance, the Pension Fund, the Government, and, ultimately, for the president of the country, for those officials, which in Russia are usually personified with the state.

Moreover, it does not matter that the pensioner is simply forced to go to work and receives not “19.9 thousand rubles,” but only 5-8 thousand.

Yes, it didn't matter until recently.

But in the second half of July (in anticipation of the bonuses on August 1, perhaps), in government circles, in the State Duma, first of all, there was talk that it was still necessary to leave indexation to working pensioners who receive very little. So far the magnitude of this “slight” has not been determined, but an approximate list of professions in which they will “look” for low salaries has been determined - these are employees of budgetary organizations and workers engaged in unskilled labor.

This initiative is universally supported by all specialists. Thus, the director of the Institute of Social Analysis and Forecasting of the Russian Academy of National Economy, Tatyana Maleeva, directly states: "IN pension payments there should not be confusion like today. There must be a unified system,"- and further - “In our country, there really is a huge number of pensioners who work as hard as they can just to somehow make ends meet.”

This is the whole point - “making ends meet”.

Actually, to completely complicate the situation, our legislators did not deprive working pensioners of indexation. It will be carried out, and for all the “missed while I was working” dates. But for this you need to quit (read). For example, if a pensioner, while working, missed indexation on February 1, 2016 - 4.56%, missed indexation on February 1, 2017 - 5.40%. Then, having resigned on December 31, 2017, he will receive an indexation coefficient on February 1, 2018

4,56 + 5,40 + 4,10 = 14,06% (here 4.10% is the estimated inflation rate for 2017, which means this will be the indexation for 2017).

Thus, if the pension is 8,500, according to indexation on February 1, 2018, for 3 years in the past, a pensioner who worked in the past will receive an additional 1,195 rubles. The pension will already be equal to 9695 rubles.

There is, however, one trick here. Under the usual procedure, annual indexation calculation, the pension should have been 9,752 rubles, 57 rubles more, but who cares about “such subtlety” anymore.

The state, of course, should be concerned about this, but not to the extent that they say.

Here I just want to start calculating again - how much the Ministry of Finance wins on this “subtlety” (for one pensioner - 684 rubles a year, and there are several tens of thousands of them, no less, who decided to work while they have the strength, but in 2-3 years and they dried up, I had to come to terms with it).

Simpler - this is what should become the law of any “restaurateur of social life” in the country (almost according to Bulgakov)

And also, pay attention to the complexity of the entire system pension provision in the country. One gets the impression that everything was done on purpose to make it more convenient to arrange “such fishing” with pensions in this troubled water.

The Russian Ministry of Finance is pushing the idea of ​​a program more and more insistently – another one. It is impossible to say yet what will come of this. There are great fears that a complex system will be invented again, which “neither me nor you will have to understand,” as Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov wrote.

So far, there are obvious discrepancies in the understanding of the new system between the key departments - the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Labor, and the Government has already twice returned the draft law on personal income tax for revision.

It needs to be simpler, simpler, racking your brains, but do it simpler, so that pensioners can understand what’s going on and how.

It’s not in vain that it’s been said that the hardest thing is to do it simply, but to make it so complicated that it’s impossible to understand anything, for this, as they say, “you don’t need a lot of intelligence,” and, in fact, you don’t need a lot of soul.

And so it happened that

• At first, pensions were also indexed for working pensioners,
• then they decided that it was “too much” for them (sorry),
• and then, “healthy again,” they came to their senses and those who work, but still receive little, decided that indexation could be returned.

Eh, but time goes by, and you can’t stop it.

22% of pensioners in Russia are working. Starting this year, the procedure for indexing their pensions after dismissal has changed. Now this process will happen faster.

What happened

Since 2016, pensions of working pensioners have not been indexed. In order for the Pension Fund to determine the status of a pensioner, all employers submit information using the SZV-M form.

As soon as the pensioner stops labor activity, his pension is indexed. However, until recently this process was slow.

For example, a pensioner retired in July 2017. In August 2017, the Pension Fund received a report from the employer, in which the pensioner was still listed as working. In September, SZV-M entered the Pension Fund without a pensioner.

The decision to pay the indexed insurance pension is made by the Pension Fund of Russia in the next month after receiving the employer’s report, that is, in October. Such a pension begins to be paid in the month following the one in which the decision was made. IN in this case- from November 1.

But that was before. Since 2018, the situation has changed.

What happened

Since 2018 insurance pensions pensioners who stopped working will be paid in an indexed amount for the period from the 1st day of the month following the month of dismissal.

The citizen will begin to receive an increased pension the same few months after stopping work as before, but these months will be compensated to him.

This procedure will apply to recipients of insurance pensions who stopped working in October 2017 and later (November 2017, December 2017, etc.), the Pension Fund explains.

Accordingly, this procedure does not apply to recipients of insurance pensions who stopped working earlier than October 1, 2017.

For example, a pensioner quit his job in October 2017. Based on the reports submitted by the employer in November for October, he was still listed as working. In December, the Pension Fund received reports in which the pensioner was no longer listed as working. In January, the Pension Fund will decide on the payment of pensions, taking into account indexation, and in February the pensioner will receive full size pensions, as well as additional payment for three months from the date of leaving work - for November, December and January.

What do they offer?

Both last year and at the beginning of 2018, bills were introduced to the State Duma to resume the previous procedure for indexing pensions.

So, recently, the leader of the LDPR, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and his party comrade-in-arms, Yaroslav Nilov, recently came up with a similar initiative.

They have prepared a bill returning indexation fixed payment to the insurance pension for working pensioners.

As a response from citizens, there was a sharp reduction in the number of working pensioners, the explanatory note notes. At the same time, only a part of pensioners actually stopped working, while the majority switched to receiving a “gray salary”.

The lack of indexation entails a negative attitude towards the existing state of affairs both on the part of workers and outsiders non-working pensioners, which causes increased social tension and undermines confidence in the pension system as a whole, deputies note.

The authors of the bill consider it necessary to return to normal indexation of pensions in 2018 for working pensioners and restore order so that the state’s problems do not affect older people.

The Constitutional Court can challenge the government's decision. Photo Interpress/PhotoXPress.ru

Cancellation of indexation of pensions of working pensioners may contradict the Constitution. Depriving some citizens of the right to compensation for inflation can be interpreted as an attack on their equality before the law. In addition, the reduction real pensions workers means a selective worsening of the situation of citizens, which is also not entirely consistent with the Constitution. Working pensioners can challenge the government's decision in the Constitutional Court.

This coming Thursday, State Duma deputies plan to consider a bill on indexing the pensions of working pensioners. This, in particular, was previously reported by the head of the Duma Committee on Labor and social policy Yaroslav Nilov.

According to parliamentarians, the parameters of the federal budget for next year can still be adjusted in order to index pensions for working Russians.

In the meantime, the draft budget 2018 does not envisage indexation of pensions for working pensioners (see). “For working pensioners, we plan to maintain the regime that was in effect this year, that is, we do not provide for any indexation for working pensioners,” said the head of the Ministry of Finance Anton Siluanov. And, according to officials, the abolition of indexation will not worsen the standard of living of working pensioners. “For working pensioners, we have and now have an increase in real wages at a faster rate than the growth of inflation. This will continue in next year. And retirees who work have the opportunity to have more money and income. The increase will be higher than inflation. We believe that it does not worsen the situation of working pensioners. This is their choice,” the minister said, emphasizing that “every pensioner makes his own decision - to work or retire.”

Not everyone agrees with the head of the Ministry of Finance. Russians are driven to work not by their own desire, but by need. “Try to survive on 6,200 rubles. This is a need. And for 7 thousand, need forces you to make a choice,” explained the chairman of the Russian Independent Trade Union of Coal Industry Workers, Ivan Mokhnachuk, to the head of the Ministry of Finance.

Indeed, it is difficult to explain the number of working pensioners in the country with desire alone. According to the data Pension Fund In Russia, there are about 43 million pensioners in the country - about a third of them work.

The government directly states that the abolition of indexation saves the budget billions of rubles. “This (indexation of pensions for working pensioners - NG) costs a certain amount of money. According to our estimates, about 170–200 billion rubles. may be required for this event,” Interfax quotes the words of the head of the Ministry of Labor Maxim Topilin.

As a result, instead of full indexation, working pensioners from August 1 received only a pension supplement. Note that, unlike indexation, when its size increases by a certain percentage, the increase is individual in nature, since its size depends on the salary level of the working pensioner. As a result, the increase averaged about 200 rubles.

According to experts, the abolition of indexation of certain categories of citizens directly infringes on their rights guaranteed by the Constitution. “The Basic Law recognizes the right of every citizen to social Security and imposes on the state the obligation to create all the necessary conditions for the unhindered exercise of this right. In connection with inflationary processes, regulations are periodically adopted that adjust the size of pensions and the earnings from which they are calculated. However, the level of pension provision today, to put it mildly, cannot be considered satisfactory. This is not consistent with Article 7 of the Constitution, which requires the creation of conditions that ensure a decent life and free development of a person, and is a gross violation of the constitutional rights of pensioners,” says lawyer Vladimir Postanyuk. Meanwhile, the lawyer notes, Russia has not yet developed the practice of successful appeals of this kind “ pension solutions" “This is also the reason why older people do not apply to the Constitutional Court to protect their rights. They are forced to endure the low level of their social security, but at the same time they do not want to go to court and participate in legal proceedings due to their age, health and financial expenses. As a result, the problem remains unresolved,” the lawyer notes.

In addition, experts point out that there are precedents for such decisions in the Russian judicial practice has already. An example of this is the ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation dated February 15, 2005 “On the complaint of citizen Praskovya Fedorovna Enborisova about the violation of her constitutional rights by paragraph 8 of Article 14 Federal Law"ABOUT labor pensions V Russian Federation" The definition, in particular, stated that the federal legislator “must correlate decisions made with constitutionally significant principles of pension provision and act within the framework of the international legal obligations of the Russian Federation. “And the Russian Federation, as a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, recognizes the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions and undertakes to take appropriate measures to ensure the implementation of this rights,” the experts reminded.

Another question is how the Constitutional Court can interpret “the right of a citizen to continuous improvement of his living conditions.” “Based on its responsibility to guarantee an adequate level of life support for socially vulnerable categories, the federal legislator determines economic obligations to categories of pensioners, and working pensioners are not considered by it as an unprotected category to the extent that they can be considered as ordinary pensioners without additional income. Therefore, most likely the Constitutional Court, considering these norms, will consider that living wage complied with and there is no violation, since the legislator did not deprive the working pensioner of social guarantees,” says the deputy director of the Institute of Legal Research of the Russian Economic University. Plekhanova Natalya Svechnikova.

It should also be taken into account that the issue of indexing pensions for working pensioners is not directly regulated by the Constitution, so it will be difficult to prove that such a decision by the authorities contradicts it, says Daniil Kirikov, managing partner of the Kirikov Group. “Article 7 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation provides that in Russia it is ensured governmental support senior citizens, state pensions, benefits and other social protection guarantees are established. But this article cannot be considered as an obligation to index pensions for working pensioners,” he concludes.