Belarus Introduces Seven Significant Innovations In Retirement Benefits

It concerns women and men.

In 2025, several important retirement benefit innovations will appear at once. It concerns women and men. Zerkalo compiled a selection of these changes.

Increase of insurance period

From January 1, 2025, Belarus will increase the minimum insurance period to 20 years (now it is 19 years 6 months). It is necessary to receive a retirement benefit. This length of service includes only the time when you worked and the employer paid insurance premiums for you to the Social Security Fund. For example, maternity leave is not included in it (but in general).

Previously, the minimum insurance period was five years, but since 2013 it has been sharply increased. Belarusians who have not worked out this experience under the new rules fall into the pension trap: they cannot claim an employment pension, they can only be assigned a social pension (now it is 218.9 rubles). Women can get it from the age of 60, and men — from 65.

The standard retirement age in Belarus is 58 for women and 63 for men. The Ministry of Labor said on the eve that the issue of further increasing this indicator "is not on the agenda."

Change for mothers with many children

One of the innovations concerns women. More specifically, it affects mothers with many children, who have four children. For them, from January 1, 2025, the minimum insurance period will be reduced — from 10 to 5 years.

A novelty for men

From 2025, men will be able to take an early retirement pension if they have brought up a child with a disability. But there is an important condition — they did it without the participation of the mother. Early retirement in place of the mother will be assigned to the father when he turns 58 years old (for women — at the age of 53).

But to do this, you need to fulfill several requirements. The first is to raise a child at least up to 8 years old. If for some reason he does not live to this age, then there will be no early retirement (this rule also applies to women). Second — at least 25 years of work experience. Of these, 5 years of insurance experience, that is, with the payment of insurance premiums to the Social Protection Fund. For mothers, these requirements are different — at least 20 years of work experience (including 5 years of insurance).

Some pensioners will no longer be registered in employment centers

From January 2025, a change in legislation related to employment will also be introduced. Among other things, officials will prohibit the registration of those who receive a social pension as unemployed in employment centers.

Now this restriction applies to those who have pensions due to age, long-service pensions, as well as professional pensions.

Deadlines for applying for pensions will be extended

From January 1, 2025, the deadline for submitting an application for the appointment of certain pensions will be increased — in terms of age, length of service and social benefits. This can be done a month before retirement age and within the same period after. Payments will be assigned from the date when a person has reached the age of retirement.

Now you can apply for a pension at any time after you become eligible for it. That is, when a woman turns 58 and a man turns 63 (if we are not talking about beneficiaries). But if a person comes for it not on his birthday, but later, then these payments will be accrued to him from the date when he applied.

Remove restrictions on retired workers

The authorities will abolish the ceiling on the amount of payments for those who continue to work in retirement and at the same time receive both a salary and a pension. Some of them have restrictions on the maximum amount of pension payments. This applies to those who, before going on a well-deserved rest, had a salary that was 1.3 times higher than the national average.

Here is an explanation. There is such a thing as an individual coefficient of earnings — this is the ratio of the actual salary that a person received before going on a well-deserved rest, and the national average. If the salary of a particular person was one and a half times higher than the average, then this coefficient is 1.5, if at the average level, then 1. So for those who continue to work in retirement, there is a ceiling on the amount of payment — the maximum coefficient is taken at the level of 1.3. Even if someone has it at 1.5 or 2, then restrictions still apply. That is, in fact, a person does not receive part of the pension if he continues to work on a well-deserved rest.

Another innovation for pensions and the labor market

In Belarus, some unemployed now have the opportunity to retire early. We are talking about those who were dismissed due to the liquidation of the organization, registered with the employment center, but could not find a job. Such people can now take an early well-deserved rest two years earlier: women — at the age of 56, and men — at the age of 61. But this requires the consent of the employment service.

In 2025, for early retirement on this basis, a tightening will be introduced: it will be possible to go on a well-deserved rest not two years earlier, but one.

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