Two important interventions for pensioners should be implemented during March. The first relates to a one-time payment of emergency financial assistance to pensioners who have personal disagreements and have not benefited or have received partial benefit from recently granted increases, and the second concerns the provision of an advance for unpaid additional pensions, old age, disability or death to insured persons who applied before 1 July 2022 and for whom a basic pension decision has been issued.

In fact, these are not the only measures launched recently, since from the end of December 2022 to date, other increases have been implemented to increase the income of pensioners that are of a permanent nature, such as lower or higher allowances due to the elimination of special solidarity contribution for more than 900,000 pensioners with an income of 12,000 euros and above, an increase in the fourth part of the Vroucis recalculation to more than 230,000 pensioners and a first increase of up to 7.75% for more than 1.7 million pensioners after 12 years, as well as an emergency financial assistance in the amount of 250 euros to more than 1 million pensioners with an income of up to 800 euros per month.

From 200 euros to 300 euros the amount of emergency financial assistance

The one-time financial aid, with a budgeted value of €280 million, is for pensioners who have a personal difference and have a basic pension amount of up to €1,600 per month, and either have not seen the 7.75% increase at all. in the previous month or they received interest less than that. According to the clarifications of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the net amount of the pension before tax is taken into account for receiving assistance.

According to the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Kostis Hatsidakis, during the recent presentation of seven new measures to support society by economic personnel, following the statements of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the government weighed the special conditions that were created due to unusual imported inflation for pensioners with the so-called personal the difference of the Katrugalu law, and for low-income pensioners. In this context, he used additional fiscal space, taking into account the needs of pensioners.

As announced, the amount of the one-time assistance increases from 200 euros to 300 euros, while its amount depends on three criteria: partial increase or no increase, due to personal differences, the amount of the pension and any other benefits received in the previous period.

Emergency Financial Assistance, which will be paid by March 31, 2023 as a lump sum, without any application from retirees, is tax-free, non-assignable, non-confiscable, and not subject to fees, charges or otherwise. retention in favor of the state.

How much will they receive?

The pensioners with personal distinction who are strengthened make up approximately 1,112,000 people.

According to Mr. Hatzidakis in the context of a recent presentation, these pensioners are divided into five categories according to the established criteria.

It is recalled that the first category includes those pensioners who have not seen a single increase. This is about 120,000 pensioners (about 5% of the total) with a personal difference and with basic pensions ranging from 800 euros to 1,000 euros per month. These pensioners will receive emergency assistance in the amount of 300 euros.

The second category includes those pensioners who have personal differences and the only assistance they received in the previous period was an extraordinary payment of 250 euros at Christmas. These are 370,000 low-income pensioners, with pensions of up to 800 euros per month, and these pensioners will receive emergency assistance of 300 euros.

The third category includes those pensioners whose basic pension is between 1,000 and 1,100 euros per month, there is a personal difference, and they received only a small increase from the abolition of the special solidarity contribution by an average of 36 euros per year. These are 70,000 pensioners who will also receive extraordinary assistance in the amount of 300 euros.

A total of 560,000 pensioners with a basic pension of up to 1,100 euros and the above characteristics will receive a maximum amount of 300 euros.

The fourth category includes those pensioners who have a basic pension between 1,100 euros and 1,600 euros per month, have a personal difference and benefit only from the abolition of the special solidarity contribution of an average of 111 euros per year. There are 300 thousand pensioners and they will receive 250 euros.

The fifth category includes pensioners who did not receive the full 7.75% increase due to personal differences, but received a smaller percentage.

Especially:

Those pensioners who receive a basic pension amount of up to 1,100 euros per month and have seen an increase of up to 3.49% in their pension, the extraordinary assistance they will receive is 250 euros. About 94,000 pensioners belong to this group.

Thus, a total of 394,000 pensioners will receive the amount of 250 euros.

There are also pensioners who will receive an amount of 200 euros as emergency assistance.

They are:

Approximately 33,000 pensioners with a basic pension of between 1,101 euros and 1,600 euros who have received a pension increase of up to 3.49% will receive an allowance of 200 euros and an additional 125,000 pensioners with a pension amount. to 1,100 euros and pensions increased from 3.5% to 6.99%, they will also receive an allowance of 200 euros.

So, the total number of pensioners who will receive the amount of 200 euros is 158 thousand.

According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, from the total increase data for the previous two months, it follows that all pensioners (2.5 million) see an increase in their income.

De-escalation of expected additional pensions moving fast towards expected additional pensions

At the same time, the process of liquidating unpaid additional pensions, which amount to about 80,000, has entered the final stage.

Speaking to APE-MPE, e-EFKA spokesman Omiros Tszapalos notes that by applying the same methods used for the issuance of deferred basic pensions, the allocation of deferred supplementary pensions has been significantly accelerated, and the first results are particularly encouraging.

An indicator of progress is that during January 2023 the first 15,000 additional pensions of the total expected were disbursed, an additional 25,000 are estimated to be disbursed by the end of February 2023, while actions to further reduce will be activated in the coming months.

According to Mr. Omeros Tsapalos, the initiatives that have been taken and have made a decisive contribution to the elimination of the “accumulation” of pending additional pensions are to improve the operation of the mechanism for issuing additional pensions with an accelerated procedure, which is already established in accordance with Article 48 of Law 4921/2022 , the establishment of a control tower to monitor pending cases throughout Greece, the employment of employees of the main centers for the assignment of pensions in the respective ancillary pensions, the digitization of the submission of new applications for supplementary pensions, which significantly limits the timing of appointments, as well as the correct organization, management and know-how available in the institution. “Now e-EFKA has proven that it produces pensions, not delays. We have proven this on the main pension front, where more than 500,000 pensions have been issued in 24 months. We will soon prove this also on the auxiliaries front,” emphasizes the spokesman for e-EFKA.

At the same time, the amendment of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs provides for the provision of an advance on upcoming additional old-age, disability or death pensions to insured persons who have submitted an application until July 1, 2022 and who have been issued a basic pension decision.

The advance payment, which is supposed to be paid by March 15, 2023, is 100 euros for each month of delay in the assignment of an additional pension (for supplementary old-age pensions) from the date of application until January 31, 2023. the down payment is set at 50 euros for supplementary disability pensions and for the surviving spouse applying for a supplementary death pension.

It is noted that no action is required on the part of the beneficiary.