On your marks, set - basic pension!
The Union and the SPD have long argued about the award.
This is followed by months of meticulous preparation.
But now the first money arrives in the accounts of those affected.
Berlin - More than six months after the official start of the basic pension, the first pensioners receive the premium.
The pension insurance began with the dispatch of the first pension notices with statements about the basic pension supplement.
Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) recognized the basic pension on Monday as a "socio-political milestone".
The premium is paid to people who have worked long but earned little - mostly women.
The first basic pensioners
At the start, a few hundred notices with statements about the basic pension supplement are sent out.
"The shipping is now going up," said a spokesman for the pension insurance.
The new information is first sent to new pensioners with the pension notices - so they can find out whether and, if so, how much they will receive a basic pension.
The basic pension is then paid out together with the regular pension: If you are a new pensioner who now receives your pension notification, the ongoing payment of the pensions - possibly with the basic pension supplement - begins at the end of August.
Any pensions that have accrued up to that point are usually paid out in July as an additional payment - for example, if the pension was approved on July 1st.
Which basic pension recipients will follow and when
After starting with the new pensioners, the pension insurance wants to check in the second half of the year for people with basic security, housing benefit or other welfare benefits, whether they are entitled to a basic pension.
The remuneration of the very old, who already received a pension before 1992, also have their turn in the exams.
The millions more pensions will follow by the fourth quarter of 2022.
"Since a total of 26 million pensions must be checked whether the supplement can be paid, the last cases will be processed at the end of 2022," said the spokesman.
Around five percent of the pensions are expected to receive a supplement.
Why the basic pension is only flowing now
Actually, the claim has been in place since the beginning of the year. But an enormous amount of advance was necessary. Above all, a new information superhighway between pension insurance and tax authorities had to be built. Because basic pension is only given to those whose income is not too high. For the full surcharge, the monthly income as a pensioner can be a maximum of 1250 euros (single person) or 1950 euros (married couple or life partner). The taxable income, the tax-free part of the pension and investment income are checked. The pension fund does not have this data, however - the pension insurance sifts out of all its pension accounts the people who have worked long enough for a basic pension. Then she sends the data to the tax authorities.The tax offices check the income of the pensioners concerned and in turn pass this information on to the pension fund.
Which requirements the pension insurance checks
Basic pension is given to those who have paid contributions for at least 33 years, for employment or self-employment, or who also have periods of child-rearing or care, or who have received sickness, transitional or short-time allowance.
The full surcharge is only available from the age of 35.
The basic pension is aimed at low wage earners, but the contribution must have been at least 30 percent of average earnings.
What to watch out for
You don't have to take action yourself.
"The German pension insurance automatically determines whether the requirements for paying the surcharge are met," said the spokesman.
There is no need for an application.
Anyone who retires now or in the future can see on their pension notification whether they will receive a basic pension.
Anyone who is already receiving a pension will only receive a basic pension notification if the supplement is paid.
The millions of pensioners who do not receive any basic pension are not informed separately.
A total of 1.3 million people are to receive a basic pension.
What is still open
On average, the government estimates that the basic pension will be 75 euros. But whether the prognosis is correct is still open. “More precise statements are only possible if a representative number of basic pension supplements has actually been calculated. I'm very excited about the numbers myself, ”said the President of the German Pension Insurance Association, Gundula Roßbach, the“ Weser-Kurier ”(Monday). The income of the basic pension recipients is then checked annually - after all, it can change. Otherwise, the system is now permanently installed - unless future legislators want it different. During a visit to Nuremberg, Heil said: "The CDU did not want the basic pension, nor did the CSU in that form." That is why it took a lot of debates in the coalition. Now the instrument makes a contribution to security in old age.But old-age poverty must also be combated in other ways. dpa