Retirement age will increase gradually and not immediately

Next year, pensions in Russia will be indexed in two stages. Starting from February 1, the first stage will be held. Funds for this are already provided in the budget. "The decision on the second stage of indexation will be associated with the results of the work in the first half and those results, which the economy will show," the Cabinet of Ministers says. The second important issue in pension provision – the increase of the retirement age – is not discussed. Experts say that the government will not risk carrying out the unpopular reform earlier than 2018.

Meanwhile, as the head of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy, Valery Ryazansky, stated, "a large category of citizens of our country are pensioners, 42 million retirees. Some of them are in working condition and still continue to work, about 14 million people."

The senator admitted that the level of pension should be correlated with inflation: "I want to point out that there is the requirement of the law, according to which the insurance occupational pensions should be indexed to the inflation of the previous year. This topic is most painful, which was at the center of discussions between the social unit of the government, the financial and economic bloc of the government, and of course, there should be a higher power to intervene, the leadership of the government, and of course, the leadership of the faction ‘United Russia’ By mutual agreement, on the basis of the state of affairs in the economy, there was a compromise solution recommended for implementation for which the State Duma voted, to index pensions at the level of 4% on February 1st, followed by additional indexation to the rate of inflation, based on the capacity of the economy to be assessed according to the results of the first half of the year. I want to say that this kind of practice of additional indexation is not new, and this year we have the same kind of indexation to be done, so the news is not very pleasant, but it is vital, it is, unfortunately, necessary. We can hardly do it any other way."

As for the increase of the retirement age, Ryazansky referred to a statement of Prime Minister Medvedev, who "reiterated the position of the President that there is no practical need to raise the retirement age in the near foreseeable future, although the issue cannot be removed from the agenda."

Speaking about the special category of civil servants and municipal employees, the senator said that the prospect of an increase in the retirement age exists, "but everything will be done carefully, in accordance with normal practice in pension legislation, a transitional period, the gradual raising of the age of the planks in the first year maybe three months, maybe five months, maybe six months, followed by an increase. That is, it should be a smooth transition, it should not take any sudden movements."

According to Ryazansky, "civil servants, municipal employees are supporting the vertical of power to some extent, all decisions must be weighed. It is necessary to add that, as a rule, the majority of civil servants and municipal employees continue to work after crossing the formal retirement age. As a rule, they continue to work, and this is confirmed by the statistics."

With regard to the indexation of pensions for working pensioners, most likely, it will not be made. "Still there is an economic foothold in life as work for this category of pensioners. There are other forms of social support for certain categories of working low-paid pensioners. As for the middle-or high-paying categories, probably, there will be absolutely justified no indexation of pensions."