Navickienė presented one-person pensions: not everyone would receive this year

So far, only widows or widowers have received a similar benefit, with an average of € 28. The objective of introducing the so-called unipersonal pension, which would be granted to a wider circle of people, not only to widows, was also included in the execution plan of this Government program.

“The objective of this project, if it is approved and adopted by the Government and the Seimas, is to reduce poverty, which to this day still affects a large number of elderly and disabled people,” Ms Navickienė described the essence of profit in a press. conference.

According to her, the at-risk-of-poverty rate for single older people is twice as high as for larger households, at 47%. Most of the single older people are women.

“It must be said that loneliness becomes an additional social risk. (…) This model responds to basic principles “Universality, social justice, non-discrimination and the fight against poverty,” emphasized the minister.

As of July 1. The benefits for a single person of retirement age would amount to 28.63 euros, in 2022 and 2023 – 32 euros each. Subsequently, the indexing by size would be decided in 2023. In the autumn session of the Seimas.

“The relationship between a single person’s benefit and other benefits will be such that state support for the poor or a small pension supplement will not be included in income. The small pension supplement for single people will not be reduced by perception of the supplementary benefit, and the individual benefit or the widow’s pension may be paid together with the social assistance pension ”, explained M. Navickienė.

This benefit would be received by single elderly persons whose place of residence is in Lithuania or who are included in the records of persons who have not declared their place of residence.

The receipt of the benefit would not depend on whether there are other persons declared in the place of residence of the older single person.

This year, implementation of the goal would require LTL 15 million from the state budget. in 2020 and 2023. – 106 million. euros.

“Nor will we stop in 2022, I can already say that pensions will index faster than expected in the current law and will rise significantly than expected. I would not like to name a specific number today, because we are working on a model of how that indexing will be implemented, but in 2022, all old-age pensions will go up, ”M. Navickienė also pointed out.

“With this measure, comparing 2019 and 2024, our objective is to reduce the risk of poverty rate by 7.4 percent. If we register that today it is 47%, then by implementing this project and ensuring the payment of this benefit to this group of people, the rate of risk of poverty on their part would be reduced by 7.4% ”, the Minister said.

Aistė Adomavičienė, director of the National Network of Organizations for Poverty Reduction, who participated in the conference, told the story of a woman who felt lonely and disabled and went into debt. It is currently run by a non-governmental organization.

“It just came to our knowledge then. The problem of the risk of poverty for pensioners is very high and much higher than the national average,” stressed A. Adomavičienė.

Therefore, according to her, the additional funds for lonely people of retirement age would be very useful.

“We are very supportive of this benefit and that it will finally appear in Lithuania. It is appreciated that impact evaluations have been carried out in the planning of this measure. (…) On the other hand, although we see that this is a really good tool to start and it will reduce poverty for single older people, it is far from the only tool that will really solve all problems. We will also need pension indexation, we must think about raising the welfare pension base and of course developing services for the elderly. elderly ”, said the head of the National Network of Poverty Reduction Organizations.

Really start paying in November

For her part, Julita Varanauskienė, director of Sodra, stated that the current draft provides that the law will enter into force on July 1, but that the payment will effectively begin in November.

Conservatives Laurynas Kasčiūnas and Gintarė Skaistė put forward the idea of ​​establishing a pension for single people of retirement age while still working in the opposition.

According to data from the Ministry of Social Security and Labor, currently the average widow’s pension reaches 28 euros, it is received for about 210 thousand. widowed pensioners.

If approved, effective July 1 of this year. the right to receive the benefit per single person would acquire even more than 60 thousand. people. From 2022 more than 400 thousand will already receive a single person benefit or a widow’s pension. people.