Increase to temporary pensions

The Labor Ministry is preparing an omnibus bill for tabling in Parliament this month with important interventions concerning issues such as increasing temporary pensions and the lump sum deposit.

Minister Yiannis Vroutsis told Mega TV yesterday that the amount of the temporary pension – handed out to retirees until their main pension is formally issued – will increase from 50% to 80% for a series of pensioners in anticipation of the settlement of their application, along with the expansion of recipient categories. Nowadays about 37,000 temporary payments are issued. Vroutsis added that an early partial payment toward the retirement lump sum will also be introduced.

Sources say the ministry’s bill may also include the amended terms of the Syn-Ergasia subsidy program for part-timers, increasing employers’ flexibility in declaring when their workers will be shifted from full-time to parttime labor.