President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko signed Decree No. 402 "On Social Support" on October 29, as reported to BELTA by the press service of the Belarusian leader.
The document has been adopted with the aim of strengthening social support for certain categories of citizens.
In particular, it provides for the abolition of the pension amount limit for working pensioners, which will enhance the effectiveness of utilising the labour market by persons of retirement age.
A further reduction in the insurance record from 10 to 5 years is established for mothers who have given birth to and raised 4 or more children.
Additional guarantees for early pension entitlement (5 years earlier) will be granted to fathers of children with disabilities who are raising and caring for the child without the mother's involvement.
For children with disabilities, an increase to their pension received due to the death of one of the parents is provided. The amount of such an increase will depend on the child's degree of health impairment. Thus, taking into account the pension received, the child will effectively be compensated for the income they could have earned during the parent's lifetime.
The decree also simplifies the procedure for collecting earnings documents for pension calculation and optimises the deadlines for submitting pension applications.
Furthermore, for certain categories of citizens (with health conditions, living with a Group I disabled person, or caring for a child with a disability), the right to receive pensions via a post office is retained. This option is also available to all pensioners if they pay for this service using their own funds (at the postal service rates for pension delivery funded by the extrabudgetary social protection fund of the population).
The main provisions of the decree come into force on January 1, 2025.