Military pensioners stand for Russia and its armed forces. Military pensioners for Russia and its armed forces Will there be indexation?

We have already briefly discussed the changes in the size of military pensions that may occur in the country’s pension legislation if the law “On the specifics of paying pensions to working pensioners” is adopted. With the adoption of this law, which, by the way, will have the greatest impact on working pensioners, the issue of the planned increase in military pensions in 2016 will be left at the same level and will not affect indexation. As previously planned, pension increases for military personnel in 2016 will be made taking into account inflation indicators. We should not forget that at the end of 2015, the increase in inflation in Russia was about 15%, while the announced 13%. Pensions were increased by 7.5% on average.

If we believe the forecasts based on established plans for increasing pensions in Russia, in 2016 military pensioners will receive payments that exceed the average old-age pension by 1.6-2 times. Thus, analysts of the NPF "Doverie", recalling that before the crisis of 2014-2015, the Government was considering the issue of increasing the size of pension payments to the military in 2016 by 20%-22%, it can fulfill its obligations. However, there are also skeptical analysts, whose main arguments are articles that appear so often in the press that the Ministry of Labor is seriously considering the issue of raising the retirement age and a decision on this issue will be made in the second half of 2016.

How is the promotion proposed? The Government and a number of ministries have several proposals on this matter:

1. Annual increase in retirement age by six months for each category of citizens. This is the “lightest” option in terms of the burden on citizens and the most beneficial for the budget. The Ministry of Finance even provided its forecasts in this regard, according to which about 65 billion rubles will be saved within 5 years,

2. Raising the retirement age for both men and women up to 60 years. This plan has a number of opponents from among the country's most senior officials. Opposed:
- Vladimir Putin,
- Igor Shuvalov,
- Alexey Ulyukaev,
- Dmitry Medvedev.
Their main argument is the absence in Russia today of favorable conditions for such a maneuver. This is eloquently demonstrated by the average life expectancy indicator.

3. A one-time increase in the retirement age by 3 years: up to 58 years for women and up to 63 for men, respectively (unlikely).

4. A one-time increase in the retirement age by 5 years: up to 60 years for women and up to 65 for men, respectively.

What pensions will the military have in 2016? Last news

The legislator regularly makes appropriate changes and amendments to existing legal acts. Next year is no exception. According to the latest information, military pensions are expected to increase in 2016.

Of course, military personnel who have already retired and those who are just about to retire are concerned about what changes are expected in the near future. The government decided to increase the size of payments. It should be noted that indexation will not be carried out in full. The reason is the economic recession.

If we focus on the provisions of the legislative framework, then every year the government is obliged to increase the size of pension payments by the level of inflation. It is not possible to fulfill this obligation in 2016, since these actions will lead to a significant increase in the budget deficit.

For several months we have been looking for possible ways to solve the current situation. Now we can safely say that military pensions in Russia in 2016, adjusted for the latest news, will be indexed by 4%. This will happen in February. The indexation percentage of payments is 3 times less than inflation in the country.

It is also possible that another increase will occur during the year. But we can talk about this for sure only after the situation with the pace of development of the Russian economy is clear.

Most recently, military pensioners had their pensions indexed by 7.5%. This happened in October of this year. The solution to this issue was not without the participation of Vladimir Putin, who stated that it was necessary to find funds to increase payments. The task was solved, and military pensioners received indexation of their pensions. Unfortunately, it is not possible to find funds for a larger increase in the new year. So military pensioners can only be content with the recent increase and hope for better changes in the country’s economic situation. This is only possible after GDP growth. In this case, financial support for the social sphere can be provided in full. Let us recall that before the onset of the crisis, it was planned to carry out indexation by 20%.

It was previously assumed that in 2016 the increase in military pensions would be suspended. However, now another decision has been made that there will still be an increase, but not a high one. At the same time, the insurance part of the surcharge that is due to the military pension for those citizens who were in an employment relationship in civilian life will be reduced.

In the new year, it was decided not to index the salaries of those military pensioners who continue to work in certain structural units. This applies to work in the Government, the State Department, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense. Similar innovations are expected for correctional officers, police officers, security forces, and firefighters.

Currently, the average pension for a military personnel exceeds the average level of pension payments for civilian pensioners. However, both categories of citizens can only wait and hope that the country’s economy will take off and the increases in their payments will be much higher.

In the third reading, the State Duma approved the budget law for the new year 2016, according to which military pensions will be increased by 4%. Salaries for active military personnel and working pensioners will not increase. The law comes into force on January 1.

The problem of increasing military pensions is a headache for the Russian government. Given the current demographic situation in the country, when the ratio of workers and pensioners is decreasing every year, the issue of increasing pensions is very pressing, not to mention the reform of the entire pension system. People of retirement age and those who will soon retire are closely following the government's movements in this direction.

The budget law will come into force in January next year. Changes will affect many areas, including social ones. The latest news from official sources confirms this. The coming year 2016 promises to be a year of surprises. But how enjoyable will they be? What can military pensioners hope for from January 1?

Good wind of change

Servants of military departments and their widows are entitled to receive military pensions in the event of the death of their spouses in service. Payments are divided into three types: according to length of service, according to acquired, officially registered disability, and also in the event of the early death of a serviceman to members of his family. The government actively took up reforming the problem of pension payments in 2012. This is due to the current situation in the political arena.

Recently, the military climate has been very unstable, and constant conflicts have forced the state to carry out various activities to ensure the country’s constant combat capability. One of them is pension. Its important social significance is to attract real professionals into the army and provide them with a decent future in advance. As they say, a fairy tale takes a long time to tell, but things are done quickly. And since 2012, military salaries have been constantly rising. Retirees began to receive 54% of new salaries. And after the October indexation, this figure reached 67%. Recent changes to how cash payments are calculated have changed a lot.

On November 13 of this year, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted in the first reading the draft law on the 2016 budget. During the plenary session, deputies voted with difficulty to increase payments to military pensioners by 4%. The latest news reports that according to this document, the budget deficit will be 3% of GDP, or 2.36 trillion rubles. On December 4, 2015, in the third reading, the State Duma approved the law on the budget of the Russian Federation for 2016.

Tricky indexing

The latest news regarding indexing is not encouraging. According to the legislative acts regulating the formation of the amount of payments, indexation should be carried out twice a year. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 604 states that in the coming 2016, the increase in military payments must be increased above the inflation rate by 2%. But in practice, fulfilling this norm turned out to be difficult to implement. The economic situation in the country forces us to adjust the expenditure side of the budget, including in the field of pensions.

This suggests that changing pension accruals simultaneously for retirees of law enforcement agencies and active military personnel is an impossible task today. After all, an increase in the salary of active military personnel invariably leads to an adjustment in benefits for needy pensioners. As a result, the latest news from the Russian government is that in the new year 2016, there will be no recalculation of cash payments to military personnel. The same applies to working military pensioners.

Retirees can breathe easy - pension payments will be increased twice a year.

However, at the moment we know for sure about an increase of 4%, but there is no information about the second indexation.

A four percent increase in pensions is expected in February 2016, but changes are possible in the future, depending on how well the country's economy overcomes obstacles.

Care or burden?

The Russian army is the support and defense of our great country. People who have heroically given most of their lives to military service, upon entering their well-deserved retirement, would like due respect for themselves. Ensuring a good quality of life, sufficient supply of medicines and food is the task of our society. An increase in pensions by 4% is not enough, because the food basket changes its price several times during the year.

In this regard, pensioners are already actively expressing their dissatisfaction, legally demanding increases by a higher percentage. Everyone remembers that in October of this year, indexation by 7.5% took place only thanks to the participation of the President of the Russian Federation. Officials stated that the indexation of military benefits must be suspended due to the difficult economic situation in the country, which arose due to Russia's participation in two wars (Ukraine, Syria) and the collapse of the oil market. Nevertheless, President Vladimir Putin called on civil servants to find additional funds, which was successfully accomplished.

Now pensioners hope that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Defense will once again be able to join forces and achieve an increase by a more significant percentage. Of course, this is possible, but for now pensioners will have to be content with this increase in payments, monitor the economic situation in the country and wait for good news. In addition, according to the Ministry of Defense, the volume of military pension benefits significantly exceeds payments to other categories of citizens. So the average size of military payments is 21,000 rubles, and for civilian pensioners only 13,000 rubles.

The latest news is that, according to the new initiative of State Duma deputies, military salaries will remain at the same level until 2018, indexation will be suspended for 5 years. This situation will affect the size of future pension payments. In addition, the government intends to cancel the 2% surcharge, and this will negatively affect the indexation level. Military pensioners are unhappy with what is happening, but the economic situation in the country leaves much to be desired.

All they will now have to rely on is to wait for the recovery and strengthening of the Russian economy. When GDP growth acquires positive dynamics, the Russian government will be able to increase subsidies in social areas.

The last thing military personnel, former and current, should think about is pensions. The fact is that they are financed under other budget items that are not related to other social payments, such as maternity capital and old-age pensions. Since January 1, 2016, military pensions in Russia, as before, continue to be financed by the Ministry of Defense, and taking into account the fact that expenditure items in this industry are more actively subsidized, all fears about their reduction are in vain.

Increasing pensions for military pensioners in 2016

According to a presidential decree signed several years ago, military pensions are recalculated annually using adjustment factors that are directly dependent on the level of inflation. So, according to this document, the increase should be no less than 2%. This allows the military to feel more confident compared to other categories of the population, who are losing rather than increasing their income. For example, even now the minimum pensions of a military man and an ordinary citizen differ by about 1.5 times. At the same time, they constantly continue to rise, despite the crisis mood in the economy.

But the rosy mood does not stop even here. The first failure in promotion occurred at the beginning of 2015. Until this time, payments were indexed twice a year, and incomes increased accordingly. But in January 2015, due to the collapse of the oil market, indexing did not occur. After which the question arose about finding other ways to fill the funds, for example, by redistributing existing funds. Including through the sale of state property under the control of ministries related to the military industry and defense of the federation.

First of all, unused buildings and structures, as well as mothballed equipment, which by modern standards had fallen into disrepair or were obsolete, went under the hammer. But even this cannot ensure that all military personnel receive their allowances on time. Therefore, other ways and means of solving existing problems are being sought. However, despite all the difficulties, military pensions in Russia from January 1, 2016 will remain higher than others, although they will be revised for some categories of military personnel. Read about the indexation of pensions for military pensioners in 2016.