The distortion resulting from the pension increases, which led to a reduction in the overall incomes of low-income pensioners, is intended to correct the new support measures adopted by the government on Wednesday. The measures were presented at a press conference by Deputy Minister of Social Welfare Anastasia Anthousis on Thursday.
"We are making up for any loss of income incurred due to the pension increases. Our goal is to ensure that no low pensioner's total income is ever reduced," she said.
The Low Income Pensioner Support Scheme provides for a monthly allowance to pensioners and pensioner households with an annual income below the poverty line, namely a total allowance for the previous year (including pension, interest on deposits, rent, etc.) not exceeding €10.324 for single households or €15,486 for couples, per year.
However, the Deputy Minister noted, in January 2022 the amount of the Low Pensioners' Allowance was reduced, mainly due to the concession in 2021 of a 4.58% increase in basic pensions. Precisely because the Plan took the previous year's income over time, there was no simultaneous adjustment to the Low Pensioner's Allowance, since 2020 income was taken into account in the 2021 concession.
"As a result, in January 2022 and given that the Allowance is scaled inversely according to the level of income where, as I have mentioned, income includes pension income, in addition to any other income, there have been the corresponding adjustments provided for by the current Scheme in respect of the Allowance provided. Approximately 25,000 beneficiaries were affected by this adjustment."
Therefore, he said, effective immediately, the Plan will take into account for the calculation of income the Social Security pension of the current benefit payment year and other income of the previous year.
In addition, all beneficiaries of the low pensioner's allowance who have a benefit reduction for the year 2022 compared to December of the year 2021, due to an increase in pension in 2021 or an increase in annual income in the same year of up to €120, will be granted an additional monthly benefit for the year 2022 equal to the amount of benefit they received in December 2021, assuming they were entitled to a pension throughout the year 2021 and there is no material difference in income or household composition in a subsequent review of the application, it said. According to the Deputy Minister, the affected persons amount to 17,720 cases.
In addition, low pensioner benefit recipients who have had their benefit cut off due to an increase in income resulting from an increase in pension in the year 2021, will be granted an additional monthly benefit for 2022 equal to the amount of benefit they received in December 2021, assuming they were eligible for a pension throughout the year 2021 and there is no material difference in income or household composition on a subsequent review of the application. These cases amount to 737, she announced.
Anthousi noted that the total monthly income, including the monthly allowance, will not exceed the respective set limits, which amount to €834 for a single person and €1,271 for a couple. He added that payment of the difference will be granted on a monthly basis, starting in April 2022, with retroactive effect from 1 January 2022 until the end of the year 2022.
The supplementary allowance will not be taken into account in the calculation of total income for determining the respective fixed limits, he said.
At the same time, the Deputy Minister said that a long-standing demand of low pensioners has been adopted, that the amount of the student grant earned by members of each household be excluded from the calculation of income for the purposes of low pensioner's allowance and Easter allowance, with retroactive effect from 1 January 2022
About 18 are affected by this decision.457 households included in the Low Income Pensioner Support Scheme including low pensioners receiving the low pensioner benefit through the Minimum Guaranteed Income and the cost of its implementation amounts to approximately €6 million, bringing the annual expenditure for 2022 to €96 million.000,000 with retroactive effect from 1 January 2022, Ms Anthoussi noted.
Finally, she noted that the current revision of the Total Minimum Income Scheme for low-income pensioners is not the first one. Since 2016 and when economic conditions had allowed it with our exit from the Memorandum, the Plan has been revised three times, (2016 , 2019 and 2020) increasing the maximum monthly benefit and ensuring that all beneficiaries have total incomes above the poverty line.
Easter allowance
The Council of Ministers approved on Wednesday the granting of an Easter allowance of €190 while increasing the income criteria for beneficiaries.
"We are increasing the income criteria for receiving the Easter allowance in order to include 5,000 additional low-income citizens. Our aim is to boost the standard of living of those in real need in these difficult circumstances."
As a result, the income threshold is increased to €7,000 from €6,500 for a single-person household and to €12,000 from €11,000 for a household of two pensioners. A total of 5,151 people benefit from the widening of the income threshold, who had either lost their entitlement to the Easter Bonus due to an increase in their pensions for the year 2021 (2,460 cases), or are new beneficiaries of the bonus due to an increase in the income threshold (2.591 cases), who are included in the Low Income Pensioners Support Scheme, including low-income pensioners receiving the low-income pensioners' allowance through the Minimum Guaranteed Income.
As he said, the additional expenditure from the increase in the income threshold amounts to €0.9 million, and represents a 25% increase of the existing budget of €3.7 million. The total number of beneficiaries is 18,822 or 38% more than in 2021.
"As a Government we recognise that low pensioners are a vulnerable group of the population and that the market value of their incomes is being hit by soaring inflation. This is the reason why we have taken these new support measures," the Deputy Minister said, "being fully aware of the difficulties that have been created following the strong inflationary trends that are currently occurring, which have also intensified due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine."
Source: CNA
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