Since 2007, by law, pensioners have not been entitled to have their pension updated in the year following their retirement. If I retire in June, I arrive in January of the following year and my pension is not revalued: the law only applies in the second year. This happens both in Social Security (Law no. 53-B/2006) and in Caixa Geral de Aposentações (Law no. 52/2007). The case is known, for several months now the “Justice for Pensioners” Movement has been denouncing it and putting pressure on it to be resolved.
For a long time, the topic passed with relative indifference, because low inflation resulted in zero or close to no updates, with the exception of pensions which had successive extraordinary increases of 10 euros, starting in 2016. The injustice was there, but it was barely noticeable. in your pocket. With inflation, the situation changed. Going from salary to pension almost always means losing income. But due to that rule, more than 200,000 workers who retired between 2020 and 2022 saw the value of their pension frozen in the year after they stopped working.
In 2023, the scenario was even worse! As the law’s formula implied more significant increases that year (when taking the previous year’s inflation as a reference), 2022 pensioners lost a lot. They were left without the January increase and also without the June interim increase: on average, around 8% of the pension value. In a pension worth a thousand euros, that’s 80 euros a month that you’ve lost forever! In 2024, the same injustice: increases of 5% to 6% did not reach those who retired in 2023.
There are hundreds of thousands of people who lost income in the years of greatest price increases and who will forever have a pension value below what would be due, if the law did not have such an iniquitous rule. However, everything indicates that it will finally end.
In mid-July, the Bloc presented a bill to put an end to this injustice. By doing so, and by having it scheduled for debate and voting in Parliament on the 17th of October, it continued the work that the Movement had set in motion, by questioning the Ombudsman’s Office, the President of the Republic, the first -minister and parliamentary groups. Scheduled for debate at last week’s leaders’ conference, the effects were immediate. The Government announced on Sunday, through Marques Mendes, its intention to correct the problem this week. On Monday morning, the PS announced a bill to accompany the Block’s scheduling. If this is the case, pensioners will finally see this rule removed from the law. The Movement created around a year ago will therefore have an important victory.
Everything resolved? Not yet. Most pensions remain low, there are countless cases of rapid burnout that continue to go unrecognized (for example, in all occupations that involve shift work, or in risky professions such as firemen and sappers!), there are cuts in “sustainability” and it is also necessary to consider whether any retroactive adjustment can be made for those who had their pension frozen. But this change is more than likely a demonstration that the agitation of retirees is bearing fruit. They mobilized and will win. Is there a better example of the much-touted “active aging”?
PS: By decision of Expresso, the regular opinion column I maintained over the last few years has come to an end. However, I will continue to write, also here, occasionally.
