The Government wants to revive the pension plan for public employees
The Government wants to revive the savings of the employment pension plan of the General State Administration (AGE) during the next legislature. Specifically, the plans managed by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration involve “reactivating contributions to public employee plans and generalizing the plans between local and regional entities.” This complementary savings vehicle to the public pension does not incorporate new contributions from Public Entities for the benefit of Administration workers since 2011when They were discontinued more than a decade ago.
“The Employment Pension Plan jointly promoted by the Administration is a Social Security system, complementary to the public benefits of Passive Classes and Social Security,” explains the General Mutual Society of State Civil Servants (Muface). The promoter of this Plan, initiated at the beginning of the century, is the Administration itself and the different organizations and entities dependent on it and other public entities, in favor of all its workers. Its manager is the investment funds and pension plans branch of BBVA.
Although the promoting entities made contributions since the creation of the Administration Plan in 2004, these remained paralyzed in 2011 in the middle of the crisis. The pension plans were enabled again in 2018, although so far no contributions have been made again. After the last reform period regarding pensions, the focus of social security has been placed on employment plans, by reducing the fiscal attractiveness of individual plans.
He advisor to the Cabinet of the acting minister, José Luis Escrivá, Manuel Ángel Álvarez, revealed the next steps to be taken in terms of social security, highlighting the ambitious objective of ensuring that the approximately three million public sector employees save in this employment plan. This was stated at the special pension day that he held Observatory of European Complementary Social Security Systems at the University of Barcelona, which this media attended exclusively.
“We have made regulations for the race, we cannot pretend that it has been perfect,” explained Álvarez, one of Escrivá’s trusted men, advancing the objectives of the next exercises: resurrect the macro complementary savings plan to the public benefit of Administration employees.
This project It started with the established objective of contributing 0.5% of the salaries of civil servants to the fund and hired personnel, austerity began in 2010 with contributions worth 0.3% that would be recovered in 2013. However, in 2011 the tap was definitively turned off. In the 2018 Budget project, the Government opened the door to reactivating contributions to pension plans (or productivity compensation) worth 0.2% of the wage bill, but it did not take off.
At the end of 2022, the plan had 502,514 participants and had an asset volume of about 540 million euros at the end of October 2023. Only about 1,100 euros of savings per participant. The voluntary contributions of the participants in 2022 were 758,000 euros, according to data provided by the Control Commission of the Administration’s Pension Plan. Both indicators have decreased in recent years.
The accumulated profitability since the beginning of the plan, almost 19 years ago (November 30, 2004), is 2.72%. In the last year, the profitability of the pension plan for state officials is greater than 4%according to the ranking prepared by this means.
The current regulations establish the maximum joint annual amount of contributions and business contributions to social security systems will be 1,500 euros per year, increasing by 8,500 euros, provided that such increase comes from business contributions or contributions from the worker to the same social security instrument. for an amount equal to or less than the respective business contribution. All participants can make voluntary contributions to this Pension Plan in order to reduce the personal income tax tax base up to the aforementioned legal limit.
