Advocates call to scrap pension limit

Labour advocates have urged the Social Security Office (SSO) to scrap a proposal to extend the minimum age for pension payouts under the social security system from the current 55 to 60.

Eighteen labour rights networks, led by Manas Kosol, president of a civil society network for Thai labour, yesterday called on the office to scrap the pension age-hike scheme, arguing most private companies’ employees retire at 55, not 60 like government officials.

Mr Manas also doubts the private sector will conform to the scheme.

If the office insisted on the plan, the groups will gather 1 million signatures from people opposing the proposal and lodge the petition with Prime Minister Prayut Chano-cha, he said.

The move came after the SSO floated a plan recently to extend the age for pension payouts from 55 to 60, but said it will proceed slowly with its implementation and offer more options.

Mr Manas said the scheme will affect people who retire at 55 and rely on the pension after retirement.

Although the Labour Ministry promised to provide work for them, they were not certain whether salary criteria used in pension calculations will decrease or not.

Currently, Social Security Fund members who contribute to the fund for at least 180 months will be eligible to receive every month 20% of average salaries calculated from the last five years before their retirement.

However, the highest salaries calculated for the Social Security Fund are capped at 15,000 baht.

The amount of monthly savings which members are entitled to make is capped at this amount as well. No matter how high a member’s salary is, they can save with the fund a maximum of 750 baht a month.

If the member has paid for less than 180 months, they will get a one-time payment equal to the accumulated paid money plus some interest.

According to Mr Manas, about 100,000 people aged over 55 were entitled to get the pension in 2015 while about three billion baht was disbursed in 2014.

Mr Manas said he was not certain whether the proposed age increase was rolled out to benefit subscribers under the social security system or stabilise the fund itself.

Mr Manas, however, voiced support for the increase in salary criteria used in pension calculation from 15,000 baht to 20,000 baht as the plan will help augment the savings of subscribers in the long term.

Meanwhile, labour permanent secretary ML Puntrik Smiti said the pension age proposal was still being studied and no final decision had been made.

Public hearings may be required to gauge opinions on the scheme as well. ML Puntrik said the number of elderly people continues to increase.