The government is unwilling to change the law to entitle those who retired less than a year ago to the regular annual update of pensions, which are awarded in January. Labor Minister Ana Mendes Godinho revealed in parliament this Tuesday that “the rule has existed since 1975 and must be applied”.
As Dinheiro Vivo had reported, those retiring in 2022 were not considered with the pension increases, which ranged between 4.83% and 3.89%, paid in January this year by Social Security and Caixa Geral de Aposentação. These pensioners will only be able to benefit from the update in 2024, i.e. if they have been retired for more than a year.
Everyone who retired at the beginning of January 2022, i.e. also on 1 January, will have their benefits frozen this year. This represents a loss of up to 12%, on top of the effect of the price increase in 2022 and 2023. For example, the minimum pension of the social security system, of EUR 278.05, could have a cumulative annual real loss of EUR 467.12, taking into account the inflation of 7.8% in 2022 and the expected inflation for 2023 by the Bank of Portugal of 5.8%, according to calculations by Dinheiro Vivo.
Despite this scenario, there will be no exceptions or changes in the law in this area. Even though the government has decided to change the rules of the game regarding the formula for updating pensions. Faced with a galloping inflation that would dictate increases between 8.06% and 7.46%, the executive, with an absolute socialist majority, decided to cut the update values by almost half, which now fluctuated between 4.83% and 3 .89% . This reduction is permanent for the future, with penalties for retirees.
Well, the 1975 rule mentioned by Ana Mendes Godinho concerns Regulation No 865/74 of 31 December 1974, according to which in 1975 “invalidity or old-age pensions took effect before 1 January 1974”. But since it is a regulation, the government can always change it, since this type of diploma must be published annually with the new framework for the year it is in effect. In fact, this rule appears for the first time in the form of a law, in 2006, with Law No. 53-B/2006 of December 29, written by the socialist and then Minister of Labor, José Vieira da Silva, and adopted on 1 entered into force in January 2007.
With regard to the payment of the half-board bonus to pensioners excluded due to delays in the processing of benefits by Social Security, the minister reiterated that “Social Security processes the supplement to ensure it is paid”. But he didn’t advance dates or deadlines. These retirees retired in September and October, but Social Security didn’t start processing benefits until November, well past the law’s (October) deadline for eligibility for aid, which dictated their exclusion
nursing homes
As for the situation of rest homes, the Minister of Labor announced that 117 homes were closed last year, 22 of which “with immediate effect”. Ana Mendes Godinho also added that “674 nursing homes were inspected”, which was “the year with the highest number of inspections ever”.
As for the Delicado Raminho retirement home, in Lourinhã, which is being inspected by the social security, after denouncing alleged mistreatment of users, the official said that “the inspection is not only taking place in this house, but in another property” . The ministry is now waiting “for information on the outcome” and emphasizes that “as long as the inspection takes place, the government cannot share data about the process”. Realizing that Lourinhã’s house had “a follow-up visit in 2022, which resulted in several recommendations”, the minister assured that “the situation now observed had nothing to do with that of 2022”.
Source: DN
