Retirees in the dark about size of pension

Pensioners are having to turn to the Ombudsman and the courts to find out what the correct amount of their monthly payout should be, following delays from the Labor Ministry in issuing the necessary notices specifying the amount due to each pensioner as of January 1, 2019, after the new calculation system was introduced.

Although the legal amendment that provides for pension cuts of up to 18 percent has been frozen for this year, retirees are concerned that the ministry’s failure to publicize the precise numbers indicates its intention to reduce the pensions currently being paid out.

This confusion and insecurity is making pensioners easy prey to various self-styled “experts” promising (in exchange for a fee) to help them sort the issue out with the Single Social Security Entity (EFKA). The response the pensioners then get from EFKA is that no notices on the recalculated amounts are being published for the time being.

The association of pensioners from the former Ioniki and Laiki Bank has already asked for the Ombudsman’s intervention, to force a response from EFKA and the ministry on the new system, the monthly notifications and a detailed analysis of each pension to be issued.