Following the current government’s big promises about how they will take care of the pensioners, the latter will actually get nothing but crumbs from the table of the Golob government. Namely, the time for the payment of the pensioners’ annual allowance is fast approaching, but instead of a fair amount, the government will only give them a pittance, even though they are the ones who have contributed the most to the state coffers, while public administration employees, regardless of their salary, will be rewarded with an annual leave allowance of more than 1,200 euros.
The Golob government has also increased the number of civil servants by creating new ministries, even though they had previously claimed that there would be no new jobs and, therefore, no additional costs. Thus, other costs have also increased at the expense of the taxpayers, including the annual leave allowance for civil servants, who will be rewarded by the government with more than 1,200 euros, regardless of their salary level. And the pensioners? The pensioners will get nothing but crumbs, and those with the highest pensions will only get a meagre 145 euros.
In addition to their pensions, the pensioners in Slovenia also receive an annual allowance each year, also known as the pensioners’ annual allowance. This will be paid with the June pension – on the 30th of June. The purpose of the annual allowance is, according to the Pension and Disability Insurance Institute of Slovenia, to ensure a better material situation for recipients of low pensions and disability insurance benefits and to increase their social security, but the measly 145 euros that the government gives to pensioners cannot “guarantee” them much. The annual allowance ranges from 145 euros to 455 euros and will be paid with the June pension on the 30th of June. Recipients of disability benefits will receive a smaller amount of allowance, anywhere from 145 euros to 255 euros.
Civil servants will receive eight times more
The proof of how poorly the Golob government values pensioners is not only apparent from the extremely low amount of their annual allowance, but also from the fact that, unlike pensioners, civil servants, regardless of their salary, all get the same amount of the annual leave allowance, which amounts to more than 1,200 euros. Thus, some civil servants received their annual allowance at the same time as their May salary last week. The trade unions are demanding even more, but the government was not in favour of the idea, saying this would not work with the budget.
It is also worth noting that during the previous government of Janez Janša, the pensioners received increases in several tranches in succession, despite the crisis situation, and they also received several one-off bonuses. Thus, in just two years of the Janša’s government being in office, pensioners received:
– higher pensions (there was a regular increase of all pensions by at least 2.5 percent on three separate occasions), – the solidarity allowance on three separate occasions, – the correction of retroactive injustices (the correction of the backlog in the harmonisation of pensions and other benefits has led to a further increase in pensions of at least one percentage point), – an extraordinary adjustment of pensions, – long-term care, – senior’s relief.
Not to mention that today, the Golob government is cutting public services that the previous government already provided – one example of that is the abolition of the Long-Term Care Act. And the bill for this move is already being settled today. Namely, the care fees in homes for the elderly are set to soar from July.
The Pension and Disability Insurance Institute explains who is not entitled to the allowance
As a rule, beneficiaries of pensions acquired under foreign rules cannot be entitled to the annual allowance. The only exception are the beneficiaries of pensions acquired in one of the other countries that were established in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The condition for entitlement to the annual allowance is that the country in which the right to the pension was acquired does not pay the annual allowance to beneficiaries with permanent residence in the Republic of Slovenia. Beneficiaries of vocational rehabilitation allowance, temporary and invalidity allowance and partial allowance are also entitled to the annual allowance, but only if they are neither the recipients of a salary nor covered by compulsory insurance, or if they are covered by compulsory insurance and are insured as beneficiaries of invalidity insurance. Beneficiaries who have been insured for the majority of their insurance for a smaller range of rights are not entitled to the annual allowance.
In addition to the beneficiary’s pension, the amount of part of the widow’s pension, the amount of the second parent’s survivor’s pension and the amount of the pension received from a foreign pension or invalidity insurance institution are also taken into account when determining the amount of the annual allowance. The total of these benefits determines the amount of the annual allowance paid.
Ana Horvat
