On October 1, the act will come into force, which lowers the retirement age to 60 for women and 65 for men. This year alone, over 330 thousand people will be entitled to the benefit. ZUS assures that it will manage to handle even such a number of applications on time. Already two years ago, it had to deal with several hundred thousand applications in retirement matters, and additionally the timeliness of issuing decisions is very high. However, on the basis of talks with clients, ZUS expects that the number of applications this year will be lower than 330 thousand.

In recent weeks more than 270 thousand people who in the fourth quarter will be entitled to a pension at a lowered age have visited ZUS pension advisors. A large number of them asked for a calculation of the projected pension and a simulation of its increase if they had stayed longer in the labour market. As a result of these calculations, about 20% of clients declared their willingness to continue working.

- The pension calculator has already been used by about 170 thousand people who wanted to know the amount of their retirement benefit as of the date of obtaining the rights and in case they would extend their professional activity by one or two years. This shows that many people are still considering making the final decision," says Wojciech Andrusiewicz, ZUS spokesperson, Newseria Biznes agency.

According to ZUS statistics, usually 83% of people take the decision to retire as soon as they reach eligibility. However, the experts of the Company estimate that in the last quarter of 2017 a much smaller percentage of entitled persons will give up their professional activity. Some people directly declare that they will remain on the labour market, thanks to which their future benefits may increase.

Pension application

- I would like to stress, however, that even if 330 thousand people apply and retire, it is not a number that can cause any difficulties. Two years ago, the so-called March Act came into force, which allowed to calculate the initial capital. At that time, we received over 800 thousand applications for conversion of over 800 thousand benefits. Today we have only 300 thousand of them, and probably we will not even achieve such a number', Wojciech Andrusiewicz points out.

The ZUS spokesman emphasizes that he has no worries about whether the plant will be able to make a timely decision about granting benefits. He also reminds that currently the timeliness of pension decisions is 99.5%. Only 0.5% of decisions are delayed, not always due to ZUS.

The changes in pension regulations must be of particular interest to those who take advantage of the disability pension, and at the beginning of October acquire the right to retire at a reduced age. The company informs them by letter that it does not automatically transfer anyone from their pension to retirement, so they must make their own application.

- People who enter a reduced retirement age with a pension will receive it until they reach the increased retirement age or when the pension runs out - reminds the Social Insurance Institution spokesman.

If, however, due to changes in the law, a person drawing a pension decides to apply for a pension on his or her own and, after conversion by ZUS, it turns out to be lower than the pension, the person concerned should withdraw such application within 30 days of the ZUS's decision. Otherwise, he/she will receive the pension he/she applied for. A guarantee of granting a more favourable benefit is always given when ZUS automatically (ex officio) transfers a person from pension to retirement.

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