Tomas: Average Parental Pension Per Parent Will Be €338.40 a Year

        Bratislava, March 11 (TASR) - The parental pension will be paid on a one-time basis in June to 908,043 recipients, with the average parental pension per parent being €28.20 per month, meaning €338.40 in total for the entire year, Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Minister Erik Tomas (Voice-SD) stated at a press conference on Monday, adding that the total amount for parental pensions will be over €307 million.
        Tomas went on to say that the highest parental pension will be €203.30 per month, so that for the whole year it will be a total of €2,439.60. "This is really an extreme and a particular recipient will receive it for ten children," said Tomas. On the contrary, the lowest parental pension will be 10 cents a month, that is €1.20 in total for the whole year. This pension will be paid out to 1,597 beneficiaries.
        The maximum monthly amount of the parental pension per child will be €23.50, but the average monthly amount per child will be €15. The total amount paid by social-insurance provider Socialna poistovna (SP) for parental pensions will be over €307 million.
        The labour minister added that the parental pension remained unchanged even after the change of the government. The only correction was that they approved permanently the payment on a one-off basis. "However, this measure continues to cause controversy in terms of its financial sustainability and pressure on the SP budget as well as being discriminatory towards a certain group of seniors," added the head of the ministry.
        According to him, these are seniors who don't have children, whose children died, whose children are severely disabled or work abroad. "Conversely, seniors who raised children, who had to spend some time with them at home, in turn have lower pensions. That is why the Labour Ministry is also offering an alternative solution that won't discriminate against any group of seniors," said Tomas.
        The minister further stated that the calculation of pensions of seniors who raised children for this period will include the full salary they earned before going on parental or maternity leave. This would mean that all the pensions of these seniors would also be recalculated backwards.
        "However, this would require a constitutional amendment and we would need to reach a constitutional agreement across the political spectrum in Parliament. Until such an all-political agreement emerges, this bill will just remain in a drawer and I won't submit it to Parliament," concluded Tomas.