House: Thirteenth Pension to Be Full-fledged Pension Benefit as of This Year

Bratislava, April 18 (TASR) - The thirteenth pension will no longer be a social benefit and will become a new pension benefit paid out by social insurance company Socialna poistovna, similarly to other pensions, according to an amendment to the law on social insurance definitively approved by the parliament on Thursday. "The sum of a thirteenth pension, a state social benefit, ranges between €50 and €300 in line with the current legislation. Despite the significant growth in consumer prices since 2020, these sums haven't been increased, reducing the real value of this state social benefit," stated the Labour Ministry in the explanatory report Recipients of all pension benefits paid by Socialna Poistovna will be eligible for a thirteenth pension. The sum of the thirteenth pension for individual pension benefits will be calculated from the average monthly sum of a given pension for the whole previous calendar year. If the average sum of a given pension is lower than €300, the sum of thirteenth pension will be at least €300. In case that a person is eligible for several pension benefits, he or she will only receive one thirteenth pension in the sum that is the highest. According to the Labour Ministry, there should be more than 1.47 million pension recipients in 2024 and their number should grow. Total cost of the measure should be over €828 million in 2024 and it should be €100 million more in 2025. The cost should go up to €978 million in 2026 and to €1.033 billion in 2027. A major part of the amendment will take effect as of July 1, 2024. ko/mcs