Most often, caring for older citizens is based on goodwill and compassion for the troubles of another person, since there is no clear and complete government program aimed at solving the problem.
Hiring a caregiver is expensive, so many people have to give up their jobs in order to devote time to an elderly relative who cannot cope and care for himself.
The state pays compensation to caring citizens. But the word “compensation” evokes a sad smile, since the monthly payment is 1,200 rubles. Many times, public organizations officially appealed to Parliament to have the figure revised, but they were not heard.
The only good thing in the situation is the accrual of work experience for the entire period of caring for an elderly disabled person. To formalize care, you must meet certain conditions.
Who pays?
Payments are made to the pensioner you are caring for. The money comes to him along with his pension. He will pay you your wages. The amount, as well as the scope of responsibilities, depends on your agreement with him. If care is not burdensome but constant, it would be fair to divide the monthly 1,200 rubles in one ratio or another. If all you care about is length of service and pension points, and the retiree is strong and able to take care of himself on his own, you can jointly decide that all the money will remain with him. In cases where the burden of care is quite high, at the request of the person under care, additional payments from personal funds are possible in excess of the amount of compensation.
Caring for a disabled person and experience
Many citizens of working age are forced to care for elderly relatives or the disabled. For this, the state provides certain benefits and compensation. Also, if a person is with a pensioner around the clock, he cannot work, but in order to receive a pension in the future he needs work experience.
For the first disability group
If there is a person in the family with serious health problems, due to which he is classified as the first group of disability, then one of the relatives has to give up work in order to provide him with normal living conditions.
Such citizens receive five years of work experience. In addition, there is a chance of retiring at an earlier age.
It is known that when caring for a disabled person of group 1, a person is awarded experience. All the nuances of this process are prescribed by law and must be strictly observed.
After the legal papers are collected, the process of calculating seniority begins.
It is also possible to receive benefits for the care of a disabled person of the first group. This is possible for those who do not have a job or for exceptionally able-bodied persons.
Working conditions in detail
The amount of payments is small, but in addition to them, each year of care for a pensioner is included in the work experience. In addition, for work there is an individual pension coefficient - an indicator that, along with length of service, will determine the size of your future insurance pension. For a year of work, an accrual of 1.8 points is due.
The number of pensioners who can be cared for is not limited by law. You can take care of as many elderly people as you can care for. For each of them, the state will charge compensation of 1,200 rubles, but the number of wards will not affect the length of service and the coefficient. Let's say you take three retirees under your wing. For 5 years of work you will receive up to 216,000 rubles (1,200 rubles x 3 people x 60 months), 5 years of experience and 9 pension points (1.8 × 5).
Experience during the period of leaving is accrued to everyone who worked somewhere before leaving or will work after that.
Features of calculating the insurance period
If a person had two or more wards over several years, then the total period of time is counted. For example, citizen Ivanov A.B. in 2021 he looked after V.G. Petrov. from 1.05.2016 to 1.10. 2021 (5 months), then, refusing guardianship, officially got a job. In September 2021, he is fired, and he again takes care of his elderly mother until February 2021 (4 months). As a result, 9 months will be counted toward the length of service when caring for an elderly citizen. If Ivanov A.B. cared for both the bedridden patient Petrov and his elderly mother at the same time from 01/01/2017 to 01/01/2018, then he will be credited for 1 year with a pension point of 1.8.
In order for time spent caring for a loved one to be taken into account when calculating length of service and pension, it is necessary:
| Arrange for official guardianship | Only an able-bodied, healthy, unemployed citizen who does not receive any benefits has the right to become a guardian. |
| Notify the Pension Fund | Employees of guardianship and trusteeship authorities must independently inform all other authorities about the appointment or cancellation of guardianship. |
| Save written proof of guardianship | If a citizen supervising an incapacitated bedridden patient or an elderly person over 80 years of age lives separately (not in the territory of the ward), then when applying for a pension he must be provided with written confirmation of guardianship. The document must indicate the period of guardianship, last name, first name and patronymic, date of birth of the ward and guardian. The ward must draw up a written confirmation; if this is not possible, then the document can be written by one of the ward’s family members. |
A citizen who has taken responsibility for the life and health of another person must also remember about himself. The caregiver's costs are partially compensated by the state; for example, compensation includes accrual of length of service for caring for an elderly person over 80 years of age.
What are the requirements for the parties to the contract?
There is only one requirement for a provider of care for the elderly: lack of income and official employment. Until you get a job, you can perform caring responsibilities and receive compensation payments for doing so. You can't count on this kind of income:
- able-bodied pensioners, since they have a constant income in the form of a pension;
- private entrepreneurs even in the absence of any activity and income.
The warded party, according to the presidential decree, can be a pensioner over the age of 80, an elderly person in need of comprehensive care due to poor health, or a disabled person of group I. Family ties between the parties to the contract are not important. You can arrange care for both your own grandmother and a stranger.
Is it necessary to live with the citizen under guardianship?
The law does not stipulate that the caregiver and the person under guardianship must live together in the same territory. Therefore, the Pension Fund has no right to refuse compensation.
However, if an elderly person submits an application to the Pension Fund, in which he writes that care is not provided, then employees have the right to conduct an inspection. If it is confirmed that care is only on paper, but not in reality, then compensation payments will immediately stop.
In 2021, amendments to the regulations for awarding compensation for caring for a citizen with a disability came into force. The pension fund cannot require documents that confirm the fact of termination of work by the caregiver if this information is available in the database.
To whom it may interest
Any temporarily unemployed person who is surrounded by retired relatives who have reached the age of 80. Guardianship of an elderly person during inactivity is a good opportunity to extend the length of service and accumulate pension points.
A full-time student living with a grandparent. Having a scholarship is not an obstacle to applying for care.
A teenager over the age of 14 who wants to earn their own pocket money. To do this, the minor will need to apply to the guardianship authorities for permission and obtain the consent of one of the parents.
Responsibilities of the caregiver
Helping an elderly relative or stranger is not just a troublesome task, but also hard work, which, alas, is not valued in our country.
Care involves organizing meals, services - hygienic, household, housekeeping, etc. After the pension reform, the elderly may not find themselves in the workplace. Explanations
Different people need different help depending on their well-being and general health. Often, pensioners draw up an agreement with their caregiver, which specifies additional conditions:
- Payment of utilities from the ward’s funds.
- Purchase of food, clothing, medicines, hygiene products, etc.
- Help with household issues (cleaning the apartment, etc.).
- Cooking.
- Pressure measurement, etc.
Guardianship of an elderly person does not provide inheritance rights. If a single pensioner decides to leave property to an able-bodied assistant as an inheritance, then it is necessary to draw up a will.
If leaving has become a burden
It happens that a pensioner’s requests over time begin to go beyond the scope of the agreed services. For example, your functions, previously limited to buying groceries and cooking, are gradually expanding, complemented by washing, ironing, and wet cleaning. If you are not satisfied with this, you can submit an application to the Pension Fund for termination of the contract and stop working. You have the right to do the same when an elderly person suffers from an illness that requires your vigilant attention and a large margin of safety.
Can an individual entrepreneur take care of a disabled person?
The Tax Code of the Russian Federation provides for caring for an elderly person as a basis for exemption from insurance contributions for pensions for individual entrepreneurs, lawyers, notaries and other self-employed citizens. However, there is a condition - during this period such persons should not engage in professional activities.
The duration of care for a person with a disability is confirmed by the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation. The basis is an application by the caring person to the Pension Fund for care, if during this period he is not engaged in any activity. For the entire period of care, a person is exempt from paying insurance contributions to the Pension Fund.
Don't try to outsmart your pension fund
Do not hide information about income from the fund. If, over time, it becomes known about the receipts into your account during the period of caring for the elderly, you will be required to return the money received. Changes that should be notified without delay:
- You have found a job or have another source of regular income. This means that you are no longer entitled to compensation: the care agreement will be terminated and payments will stop.
- You have been paid a fee or other one-time remuneration. No compensation will be accrued this month, but the contract will remain in force and payments will resume starting next month.
- Your person under your care has died. From this moment on, the receipt of compensation and accrual of length of service ceases.
Accrual of pension points
New legislation stipulates that Russians caring for relatives aged 80 years and older. Citizens declared incompetent also receive pension points. They are charged for each year of guardianship in the amount of 1.8 thousand.
You can also count on monetary compensation, but Pension Fund employees must comply with certain requirements. For example, a citizen engaged in care should not work and receive unemployment benefits.
If a citizen who is caring for a sick person gets a job, they stop paying him compensation and providing benefits. Therefore, PFR experts argue that in order to prevent overpayments, which will still have to be returned by the state voluntarily or through the court, employees of the Pension Fund must be immediately informed about this. Otherwise, punishment cannot be avoided.
Today, the situation with citizens who look after an elderly person or a disabled person and spend all their time on this is different.
For caring for disabled people, compensation in the amount of 1200 rubles is provided . The regional coefficient is 1.15.
Those who must look after a child with a disability or a person who has lost the ability to work since childhood are provided with financial assistance in the amount of 5,500 rubles.
When caring for disabled or elderly people, experience will be accrued if the person worked before. It doesn’t matter whether a person worked for a month or several years, the experience will be accrued. Only those who have never been employed cannot count on this. Cash assistance for care will be awarded to the pensioner, and not to the person caring for him.
Insurance honor of pension
As explained in the Pension Fund of Russia (PFR), previously, in order to include these periods in the length of service when assigning a pension, a person had to submit additional supporting documents to the fund. Now, after the adoption of a government resolution, these periods will be automatically included in the length of service (at the end of the reporting year and for all previous periods), and pension points will be awarded for them based on personalized accounting information that the Pension Fund has at its disposal. This data (experience and points) will be reflected in the individual personal accounts of citizens in the Pension Fund and taken into account when assigning a pension without additional confirmation. Simply put, people were spared the hassle of collecting and submitting additional documents.
Let us clarify that we are talking about people of working age who not only care for an elderly person or a sick child, but do it officially by declaring this to the Pension Fund. They receive compensation and monthly care payments for this. In addition, the periods that a person devoted to caring for a loved one are counted towards his length of service. This means that pension points are added to him - 1.8 points for each full year of such departure. After all, a person caring for a sick person cannot work and, therefore, form an insurance pension.
As the Ministry of Labor clarified to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, periods of caring for older people and the disabled were previously taken into account when calculating pensions, but now people have been freed from unnecessary bureaucracy, and they will no longer have to prove their rights.
In total, 1.8 million able-bodied Russians are caring for disabled people and receiving compensation for lost earnings. They are paid 1200 rubles a month. 514 thousand people take care of disabled children instead of working. If such a child is not cared for by a parent or an adoptive parent, the amount of compensation for him is also 1,200 rubles, and for parents and adoptive parents it is 5,500. In total, the Pension Fund spends 67 billion rubles annually on payments for both categories of recipients.
The government decree also establishes that the insurance period will include periods during which people who were unjustifiably prosecuted and subsequently rehabilitated were temporarily suspended from work. And the periods of payment of insurance premiums by individuals who voluntarily entered into legal relations under compulsory pension insurance, for themselves or for another individual for whom insurance premiums are not paid by the policyholder.
