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- Percentages and ratio: the Cabinet of Ministers was asked to set compensation for the delay of pensions by Russian Post
Percentages and ratio: the Cabinet of Ministers was asked to set compensation for the delay of pensions by Russian Post
The State Duma is asking the government to establish compensation for late payment of pensions by December 1 this year. Such recommendations were made by the State Duma Committee for the Protection of Competition after the audit of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Post. Earlier, Izvestia wrote about the audit of the joint venture, during which violations were revealed. It was found that instead of delivering pensions and benefits to citizens, the Post places this money at an interest rate as targeted deposits. According to the deputies, if compensation is needed, it will be unprofitable to delay pensions.
Pension payments by Russian Post
The government is being asked to establish compensation for Russians for late payment of pensions and benefits by Russian Post by December 1 this year. Such recommendations were sent to the Cabinet of Ministers and relevant ministries by the State Duma Committee for the Protection of Competition following an audit of the organization conducted by the Accounting Chamber from 2020 to 2024 and the expired period of 2025.
The document, which Izvestia has, also points to the observation of the supervisory authority that since May 2023, a law has entered into force, according to which pensions can only be delivered by postal organizations. Since Russian Post receives 1.17% of the payment amounts from this delivery, its revenue in 2024 amounted to 32.69 billion rubles. According to the auditors, along with this profit, in the 2020-2024s, the organization received income of 6.48 billion rubles as interest for the placement of earmarked funds in bank accounts.
The audit of the Russian Post by the Accounting Chamber became known on April 22. A message was posted on the agency's website stating that the control body had identified systemic problems in the organization's activities. In particular, it was said that its activities are inefficient, cause losses and do not contribute to solving the tasks set for the development and accessibility of postal services in Russia. The company achieved only 70.8% of the set results for the modernization of post offices in 2022-2023. In addition, the auditors also suggested taking a number of remedial measures. Among them was a measure to pay monetary compensation for late payment of pensions, which could be delayed for up to 20 days. Earlier, Izvestia wrote about the audit of the joint venture, during which violations were revealed.
"The possibility of Russian Post extracting income from the allocation of targeted funds creates prerequisites for non—compliance by the company with the deadlines for the delivery of pensions and benefits," the document says the deputies of the State Duma.
In this regard, they recommend that the Government amend legislative and regulatory legal acts to establish monetary compensation for late payment of pensions and social benefits.
— The Accounting Chamber in its report does not claim that the possibility of Russian Post extracting income from the placement of earmarked funds in commercial bank accounts is the reason for the delay in pensions. The joint venture indicates that this creates prerequisites for non—compliance with the deadlines for the delivery of pensions and benefits," the press service of the Accounting Chamber told Izvestia.
As a result of the audit, it was proposed to the government to instruct the Ministry of Labor, together with the SFR, to submit to the Cabinet of Ministers a proposal to amend legislative and regulatory legal acts in order to establish monetary compensation for late payment of pensions and social benefits. The amount of compensation was not calculated by the Accounting Chamber.
In addition, the State Duma proposes to optimize the balances of earmarked funds intended for the payment of pensions and benefits generated by the Russian Post. The deputies propose to give instructions to the Ministry of Labor and the Social Pension Insurance Fund to work on these issues with a deadline of December 1, 2025.
The State Duma considers it necessary that the Ministry of Finance, together with the Ministry of Labor, work out the issue of establishing in the law the possibility of delivering insurance pensions to organizations other than federal postal organizations.
At the same time, the deputies proposed to increase the efficiency of the organization. One of these measures, according to the document, provided that the monopoly right to deliver insurance pensions is eliminated, may be an increase in the share of Russian Post in the cross-border trade market. We are talking about the share of international shipments with imported goods.
— In our recommendations to the government, we proposed that the Russian Post pay compensation for the delay in pensions to Russians. Obviously, such payments will be unprofitable for her, so she will pay pensions on time," Sergei Lisovsky, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee for the Protection of Competition from the United Russia faction, explained to Izvestia.
According to him, the amount of such compensation will have to be set by the government. In addition, the deputy said that the proposal to increase the organization's share in the cross-border trade market was made by the Russian Post itself. In his opinion, it is possible that this will increase the income of the organization, but it may lead to an increase in the cost of shipping goods.
According to the deputy, a more serious measure to increase the effectiveness of the organization could be the granting of a budget loan with a lower interest rate. Since today the Russian Post pays about 20 billion rubles in interest on debts to commercial banks.
Izvestia sent requests to the Ministry of Labor and the Social Fund with a request to comment on the deputies' proposal. The editorial board also sent questions to the Russian Post and the government.
Will compensation solve the problem of delayed pensions
Yaroslav Nilov, head of the Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans' Affairs, supported the proposal to pay compensation for delayed pensions. At the same time, the deputy believes that the amount of compensation should not be small, so that it would not be more profitable for the Russian Post to pay it and earn on the delay in pensions.
— Today there are problems with postmen in rural areas. People don't go there to work because of the low salaries. As for the responsibility for the delay, then, of course, it is necessary to punish the ruble, so that it would be wrong," the deputy noted.
Nikolay Arefyev, first deputy chairman of the Economic Policy Committee, on the contrary, believes that if Russian Post extracts income from targeted funds, then its management should be seriously punished for this, and not resolve the issue through compensation.
— Russian Post is just an intermediary between people and the state. If it does not fulfill its function of providing social benefits, criminal proceedings should be initiated. Such measures were suppressed back in the 1990s, when in some enterprises the boss received salaries and deposited them instead of paying it to the workers," the politician explained.
But Georgy Ostapkovich, scientific director of the HSE Center for Economic Research and Economic Development, agrees that in case of a long-term pension delay, compensation should be provided.
— In principle, a pension should not be delayed, since it is not a salary, but a social payment, for which the budget is responsible. Therefore, if there is a significant delay, then this is sloppiness," the expert said.
At the same time, he noted that Russia is a huge country, in some corners of which postmen do not get there immediately. It would be optimal if pensioners received pensions on bank cards, but there are still villages where there are no ATMs and Internet. Therefore, according to him, the postmen there are still the only source for the delivery of payments.
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