For pensioners living below the poverty line, an offer to pay more

Gintarė Skaistė and Laurynas Kasčiūnas, members of the Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) faction of the Seimas Homeland Union, appealed to Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis about the terrifying level of poverty among lonely pensioners.

The widowhood pension plan is discriminatory

According to the member of the Seimas L. Kasčiūnas, this idea was proposed a long time ago, it was included in the government program, unfortunately it was not possible to implement it.

Speaking of widow’s pensions, the interlocutor said that the current program is discriminatory. A member of the Seimas came to such a conclusion after communicating with a woman, she said that she had divorced her husband after thirty years of marriage, with whom she had raised three children.

Married to another, the man died. “Both spouses have reached retirement age. Imagine who received a widow’s pension? Ogi’s last wife. The woman with whom he raised his children for 25 years gets nothing. That’s not true. And in other respects There are all kinds of tricks, ”he said.

The universal system, from the point of view of the members of the Seimas, would be more just. Currently, around 211 thousand receive a widow’s pension. about 90 thousand people would request the benefit per single person. Old people.

“We have been registering offers for two years, but we see that this is not being done, so again
we went out with an offer. Lonely people are the most vulnerable and many of them live below the relative poverty line ”, he pointed out.

Single person benefits would replace widowhood pensions

The plan of measures for the implementation of the government program planned for 2019. To launch a one-person support system in the second quarter, replacing widow’s pensions with one-person benefits.

During that time, only bonuses were introduced for those receiving ultra-low pensions, but the exclusive status of single people was in no way enforced.

At the end of last year, the members of the Seimas G. Skaistė and L. Kasčiūnas registered a bill proposing to increase the amount of widow’s pensions from 26 euros to 42 euros and to expand the circle of such pension beneficiaries, to pay them not only to widows, but also to single and divorced retirees.

After the presentation, the Seimas approved this initiative, but in turn the Government issued a negative conclusion and the project was stopped.

Why? “There are several stages in the adoption of projects in the Seimas: it has been approved, but then the Commissions usually ask for the Government’s conclusions, since it is related to finances. According to the conclusion of the Minister of Social Security and Labor Linas Kukuraitis (the same one that proposed this system four years ago), the project was rejected. It seems that something has been improved, ”said the MP openly.

However, the Seimas members assured that they did not intend to give up. Don’t point a finger at the government’s injection into the country’s economy – it borrowed 5 billion. euros. “Of the billions spent rescuing the economy, the necessary 90 million euros can certainly be found. We say: let’s find funds, let’s solve a structural problem, not a natural one,” said L. Kasčiūnas.

From the interviewee’s point of view, this is a common sense suggestion: “Non-discriminatory, more open. We do not take those 42 euros out of our heads, we estimate them based on the cost of the house. The biggest costs for single retirees are utilities, a similar amount is the cost of heating, a bit of that boost. “

According to LSD, people living below the poverty line spend almost a third (27.9%) of their total income just to maintain their home.

“These grim statistics send a clear message to the government that the group in society suffers the most from poverty. Prior to the release of these statistics, many experts stated that housing and household costs for single people of retirement age are relatively higher, requiring additional state support for this group. With this in mind, we ask the Prime Minister to return immediately to our proposal to create a support system for single people of retirement age. We can no longer allow 200,000 older people to fall into poverty due to government indifference, ”G.Skaistė wrote in a press release.

SADM: The best thing is to increase the income of not so many lonely but poor pensioners

When asked what measures have already been taken on the issue of poverty among people of retirement age, Eglė Samoškaitė, a public relations adviser at the Ministry of Social Security and Labor (SADM), informed Delfi that as of 2019 the introduction of bonuses for the beneficiaries of smaller old-age pensions, which will continue to be paid this year.

Pensions were also indexed. Representatives of the Ministry of Social Security and Labor reported that in 2019 old-age pensions grew by 7.63% in 2020, and in 2020 – about 9 percent. Average old-age pension with the required seniority in 2019 amounted to € 377 in 2020. – EUR 399

2020 A lump sum of € 200 is paid to recipients of old-age, disability and other benefits to offset losses due to managing the spread of COVID-19.

Since 2020 In July, the monetary social support provided in the municipalities was increased: social benefits and compensation for heating and water costs.

“Special attention is paid to support for single people of any age. The most precise is to increase the income of not so many lonely retirees as poor. A former judge who receives two pensions, the state and Sodra, can also be single, while the Elderly spouses living together, who do not have the required time of service and therefore receive small old-age pensions, would not receive additional support from a single pensioner, half E. Samoškaitė.

Representatives of the Ministry of Social Security and Labor are observing the decrease in poverty of people of retirement age, both single and single. The indicators are published by the Official Statistics Portal (osp.stat.gov.lt) can be viewed here.

“This indicates that the measures taken are leading to improved results, but Lithuania still has a long way to go in the fight against poverty, especially considering that the ratio of workers to people of retirement age is moving in an unfavorable direction. “. For this reason, the pension accumulation reform was implemented, ”explained E. Samoškaitė.