Pensions issued online, at last
Advance payment of benefits arranged electronically as of Wednesday and paid out next month
In a break with the conditions they have had to face until now, retirees will as of Wednesday be able to apply online for their provisional pension as the special platform to that effect is opening for users. They are entitled to an advance monthly payment of 360-384 euros, until their full pension is issued.
According to the Labor and Social Security Ministry’s planning, there will be no cross-checking with each insured person’s full data for the time being; this is in order to accelerate the process and have the first temporary pensions issued before May.
The authorities will only use the data available on the online database of the Single Social Security Entity (e-EFKA). That is why the ministerial decision, signed just a few days ago, clarifies that the temporary pension issue document that will lead to the disbursement of the cash to retirees will not constitute a definitive pension-awarding decision.
That practically means that for those who have submitted or will submit retirement applications and are aged between 62 and 67 years, all that is required is that they meet the age and years-of-service criteria. In other cases – i.e. people aged below 62 years or applications concerning disability or bereavement – the authorities will examine the minimum requirements for the right to a pension set by any main pension entity that has now been incorporated into EFKA.
In all instances the meeting of eligibility criteria for the issue of temporary pensions will be exclusively established based on the information saved in the e-EFKA database and not on the physical file of each insured worker stored at EFKA or any other social security fund.
The documents required (such as birth certificate, family status, death certificate, disability certification etc) will be automatically drawn from other state agencies without the participation of the applicant and without their production in physical form. If that is not possible, the formal declaration of the applicant will suffice for now.
