The educational ticket for senior women will be two-speed. The January valorization of allowances will expire

“We will supplement the tuition with a family assessment basis. And it will also apply to those who cared for loved ones, such as parents or grandparents,” outlined Jurečka. He added that the existing education allowance, which 1.4 million senior women began to receive in addition to their monthly pensions since the beginning of the year, will remain with them until the end of their lives. “Nothing will change about that,” emphasized the minister.

However, this means that current pensioners with children will be favored over those who are yet to rest. That is, if they did not raise at least three children. If they have one or two children, they will have to be satisfied with the family assessment basis, or with the spouses’ joint assessment basis.

Jurečka assures that no one will be shortchanged. “The new measures will better value the time of motherhood, parenthood and the time of caring for a close person. The aim is to strengthen justice towards women who have lower pensions than men,” he said.

The family assessment base will allow a woman or a man on maternity and parental leave to count the amount of the average wage in a given year into their pension. The voluntary joint assessment base of spouses then assumes that the pensions of both partners will be determined by equal calculation of the total amount deducted from their earnings, namely for the duration of the union.

According to data from the Czech Social Security Administration, an old-age pensioner received an average of 19,755 crowns last year, and a female pensioner 16,484 crowns. After this year’s introduction of educational allowance and valorization, the average old-age pension for men was 21,520 crowns, and for women 19,038 crowns in the middle of the year.

However, the approaching regular January valorization of pensions will not increase the incomes of men and women on vacation for the entire next year. And this despite the fact that an increase in educational fees from the current 500 crowns was originally expected.

But it turned out that with proper valuation, only the basic area will increase, by 360 crowns. The percentage amount that affects educational fees will not change. Another reason is the provision in the amendment to the law, which reduced the June extraordinary valuation once. In the amended paragraphs, it is explicitly stated that the rule according to which the education fee will increase does not apply in case of extraordinary valorization.

The coalition parties already argued about the cutting of education fees during the negotiations on the consolidation package. This year alone, the bonus will swallow around twenty billion crowns per year. It will thus make up a third of the pension system’s deficit.

Education fees were enforced by the People’s Party in the last election period with the help of the ruling ČSSD at the time. However, it was not clear where to get the money for the measures, which at the time was criticized by the right and many analysts. The National Economic Council of the Government (NERV) also pointed this out last year.

“It is unnecessary to add another parameter to the pension system. It cannot be disputed that education has helped a large number of people, especially women, but it contains several unsolved problems. Moreover, it is one of the largest expenditure items of public finances against which no adequate income or savings have been found,” said NERV.