No pension will be reduced with the conversion, and some will even increase by 80%, says Labor Minister Simona Bucura Oprescu. An example of such an increase can be an employee who has worked for 35 years at the minimum wage.

“Here we will have a significant increase in pensions. According to the modeling of the National Pension House, an employee with 35 years of experience on the minimum wage, from the minimum allowance, with stability points will no longer be in this situation. Thus, from 1,281 lei, after conversion, it would have an increase of more than 80%. This is very important, because in the minimum social assistance we had pensioners with 15 years, but also pensioners with a full service of 35 years, but they had low salaries and were also included in that minimum payment. And here you can see the positive effect, we are entering the sphere where, if you worked more, you get more,” the minister said on Romanian television.

When asked if there would be money to increase pensions, Oprescu said that the promised increases would be kept.

“This is a matter of priorities. In a country where hundreds of millions of euros were found in discarded vaccines, the first priority is also to find money for pensions,” said the Labor Minister.

Pensions should be transferred by September.

The new pension law was adopted by the parliament last year and entered into force in January.

The main changes

• The minimum length of service to receive an old-age pension will be 15 years
• Until 2035, the retirement age will be the same for women and men, respectively 65 years
• To receive the benefit of early retirement, 35 years of full contribution service is required.

Contribution periods of more than 25 years will be rewarded with additional points, respectively:

• 0.50 points/year for years of contribution from the interval 26-30 inclusive;
• 0.75 points/year for years of contribution from the interval 31-35 inclusive;
• 1 point/year, starting from the 36th year of contribution.

Non-permanent contribution allowances will be calculated on pension, respectively global agreement, hourly pay, thirteenth pay, rewards, etc.

Women with several children, lowering the retirement age

Women with many children will benefit from lowering the generally accepted retirement age. Thus, discounts are provided for mothers who have given birth to and raised children under the age of 16:

• Child: 6 months
• Two children: one year
• Three children: one year and six months
• Four children: two years
• Five children: two years and six months
• Six children: three years
• Seven children and more: three years and six months

The reduction of the retirement age also applies to women who adopted children and raised them up to 14 years of age.

Persons who work under conditions of serious or pronounced disability will receive an additional number of contribution points with another fixed number of points, respectively 0.5 points, respectively 0.25 points for each year.

New pension calculation formula

The pension will be equal to the value of the reference point multiplied by the number of points. The base point value is the pension point value divided by 25, and the total number of pension points is made up of the number of contributory points, non-contributory points and stability points.

Within six months, a recalculation of all paid pensions for which there are documents with increases/inconstant contributions will be carried out. When calculating the pension, the gross income will be taken into account, from which the social insurance contribution has been withheld.

In a situation where, for various reasons, it is impossible to document these gross incomes, when calculating points, salaries from the labor book and permanent allowances are used, as now.

The increase formula takes into account the average annual rate of inflation, to which is added 50% of the real increase in the average accrued wages, the final figures known in the current year for the previous calendar year. The percentage of the increase and the grant date are established annually by the law on the budget of the state social insurance and are set according to the income in BASS and the inflation estimated by the INS for the previous year, according to the regulatory act.

Starting with the entry into force of the new law, the amount of assistance will increase annually according to the same mechanism of increasing state pensions.

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