The Government's proposal regarding the 12% penalty on the pensions of those who retire at the age of 63 is before the Social Insurance Council, the Minister of Labor and Social Insurance, Yannis Panagiotou, announced on Monday.
Speaking to mass media, after the end of the first part of the event for the Safety and Health at Work Week 2023, and asked about the context regarding the 12% penalty on the pensions of those who retire at the age of 63, Mr. Panagiotou said that the retirement limit in Cyprus cannot be reduced saying that the actuarial reduction during early retirement cannot be abolished.
He added that however, the Government listening to society and consistent in its programmatic position has conducted an actuarial study with the support of the International Labor Organization, which identified specific margins within which the proposal formulated by the Government for a targeted intervention can work.
He explained that the aim is to provide the possibility of relief to a part of those who retire early, according to the extent of their years of contributions to the Social Insurance Fund, which must be quite extensive, according to the practice applied in other states- members of the European Union.
Asked when the plan in question will be presented, Mr. Panagiotou replied that the meeting of the Social Insurance Council is scheduled for next Friday, where the Government's proposal will be discussed together with the social partners.
Asked if there is any insight into the categories of professions and the years of service that the proposal will cover, Mr. Panagiotou said that the Government's approach, in line with the practices applied in other countries, is based on the length of years of contributions, however through this approach, workers who were employed in manual and demanding professions are positively affected to a large extent, since, as he said, usually in these professions the start of work is done from a very young age.
When asked if there was any development in relation to the recording of the data on the minimum wage, Mr. Panagiotou stated that tomorrow the meeting of the Commission is scheduled to re-evaluate the amount of the minimum wage and other provisions of the decree. He said that the said Committee, which was appointed by the Council of Ministers, includes workers' representatives, employers' representatives and technocrats, academics who have been selected by the Ministry.
“We will take into account both the needs of society and and the possibilities of the economy so that we manage the revision of the decree on the minimum wage in a balanced way”, he noted.
As reported by KYPE, when asked if there are barriers regarding the amount that will be given he said that “I do not want to prejudge the development of a consultation process, which has now started” adding that there are specific timetables and by the end of the year the new decree on the minimum wage will be issued which will take effect from January 1.
Speaking about the issues of safety and health at work, Mr. Panagiotou stated that all social partners attach due importance to the issues of safety and health and this is very important and necessary so that it becomes possible to ” approach and achieve our goal of zero occupational accidents”.
