Today, January 27, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine held a meeting on social and tariff issues.
Gas
The Cabinet of Ministers expanded the list of gas recipients at a discounted price of 6,99 hryvnias.
Let's remind: previously, according to the government's decision, such a price was fixed for February and March of this year for household consumers. Now they have also added OSMD.
The innovation will make it possible not to overpay for cooking gas in those houses where OSMD has been created and the purchase of gas is made not for each apartment, but for the association of owners. But since the consumption of gas in the kitchen is small (10 cubic meters), the total payment will not change drastically.
Surcharge for electricity
The Cabinet of Ministers determined the conditions for obtaining monetary compensation for electricity. Let's remind: in Ukraine, the preferential tariff for the first 100 kilowatts (90 kopecks per kilowatt) was recently canceled and now everyone pays 1,69 hryvnias from the first kilowatt. Including consumers who have installed electric boilers for heating (previously they received a preferential tariff for 3 thousand kilowatts per month).
The new government decree states that from January 1, 2021 (that is, retroactively), electricity compensation will be introduced for the following categories of consumers:
- using electric boilers for heating (including in rural areas), if they had the right to a preferential tariff earlier,
- living in non-gasified houses without a central heating system,
- to families with many children and family-type orphanages.
At the same time, the owners of electric stoves were dropped from the list of beneficiaries. What the Cabinet of Ministers drew attention to, but they did not make an amendment to the resolution, promised to study this issue additionally. Also, when calculating the compensation, the 30% discount to which beneficiaries, in particular, residents of Chernobyl, are entitled will not be taken into account.
It is important to note that these compensations are not provided on a permanent basis, but only until March 31. That is, they will stop paying even before the end of the heating season. What to expect after April 1 is unknown.
They are waiting for you at home
The Cabinet of Ministers approved the draft law, which provides for a whole list of measures for the "reintegration" of wage earners.
As indicated in the explanatory note, about 400 thousand citizens who previously worked abroad returned to the country during the epidemic. And the possibility of further career abroad in the near future is in question. Therefore, former wage earners need to be urgently employed in Ukraine. Plus, the authorities do not lose hope of returning Ukrainians who still go to work in other countries.
For this, in particular, it is proposed to pay assistance for the so-called economic reintegration. Earners can use this money to open their own business in Ukraine.
The conditions for receiving assistance are as follows:
- for those who have more than ten years of work experience — payment of funds from the Social Insurance Fund on a non-refundable basis
- those whose experience is less than 10 years will also be given money, but they will have to be returned
- in order to apply for assistance, you need to confirm that you have worked abroad (and received income) for at least a year and have starting capital of at least the amount of reintegration assistance
- submit a business plan to the competition
- to register in Ukraine as a natural person-entrepreneur or as a legal entity
The maximum amount that can be received from the state is 150 thousand hryvnias. For this, 108 million hryvnias will be needed from the budget. At the same time, 58 million will have to be returned to the employees later (this amount will be allocated to those who have less than 10 years of experience).
New subsistence minimum
In Ukraine, they want to untie payments and fines from the subsistence minimum and the tax-free minimum. In particular, the ministers agreed on a draft law on amendments to the Tax Code, which proposes to change the amount of the calculation of monetary recoveries and fines, which are now tied to the non-taxable minimum. They will be calculated on the basis of a certain base value, the size of which will be prescribed annually in the budget.
But not all payments will be tied to the base amount, but only those related to social benefits (currently half of the subsistence minimum or 1135 hryvnias). These are penalties under criminal and some administrative articles (for example, for non-payment or incomplete payment of taxes). For more "light" articles (for example, a violation of traffic rules), fines are tied to the non-taxable minimum of 17 hryvnias. And its size does not change in the new bill.
Another draft law from the Ministry of Social Policy on this topic is about streamlining the calculation of the living wage and related payments and fees.
The following is offered
- From January 1, 2022, the formula for calculating the living wage will be changed. In particular, they want to calculate the subsistence minimum, based on the real needs of a person and the price of goods and services. Let's remind: now the official living wage is 2270 hryvnias, while the real one is no less than 5 hryvnias. For several years in a row, the recommendations of the Council's profile committee to the draft budget include the task of the Cabinet of Ministers to bring the figures of the subsistence minimum to a real level, but despite the availability of financial opportunities. And they haven't been found yet. Including, and because the subsistence minimum is tied to a lot of social benefits (child support, disability benefits, some types of pensions, etc.).
- to solve the problem, it is proposed to untie many payments from the subsistence minimum and tie them to the basic amount. More precisely, there will even be several of them: separately for additional payments and allowances, separately for child support, social payments to the adult population, etc. These basic values will be revised twice an hour.
New pensions
At the request of the Ministry of Social Policy, the Cabinet of Ministers also approved a bill concerning pensions. First, the innovations will affect the indexation of pensions.
Let us remind you: indexation is now carried out annually according to the formula: 50% growth of the average salary plus 50% inflation for the last hour. But the exact date of indexation has not been determined, which allows the government to postpone the deadline (for example, in previous years, indexation was either in March or in May). In the project, annual indexing is proposed no later than March 1.
Secondly, pensions of military personnel, civil servants, and scientists will be indexed on a general basis (and according to a general formula). Pensions have not been indexed since 2014, and in the process of pension reform, the recalculation of special pensions actually fell out of the legislation.
After the post-war protests of pensioners, they tried to solve the problem. Pensions were recalculated taking into account the increased cash supply in the army, but the pensioners were not given the entire amount, but were divided into additional payments over several years.
Now they want to change the formula, tying it no longer to real salaries in the army or civil service, but to a general formula. As a result, the indexation of the same military may turn out to be less than if it were calculated based on the growth of real salaries in the army.
Thirdly, they want to allow those who have been cut down to retire by age, 1,5 years earlier than the age limit. The calculation is as follows: if such people enter the labor market, they will receive a benefit of more than 5 thousand hryvnias, and if they are sent to a pension - about 3,5 thousand hryvnias. That is, there is savings for the budget. Also, parents caring for children with rare diseases that are not included in the list of those that give the right to receive disability can count on an early pension.
