Pension hike to be given in January fails to meet expectations

Chief Social Security Specialist İsa Karakaş stated that civil servants who retire in the new year will not be able to benefit from the 8,077 Turkish Lira flat-rate raise granted in July.

A FLAT-RATE RAISE WAS GRANTED

With the decision published in the Official Gazette on July 15, the lowest civil servant salary was increased to 22,017 Turkish Lira, and a 25 percent raise was applied to pensions. Thus, civil servants became entitled to receive an 8,077 Turkish Lira flat-rate raise in addition to the 17.55 percent raise resulting from the collective bargaining agreement and inflation difference.

FLAT-RATE RAISES ARE NOT ADDED TO THE BASE SALARY

However, the 8,077 Turkish Lira flat-rate raise granted to civil servants will not be reflected in base salaries. Therefore, civil servants will not see this payment in their pensions when they retire.

THOSE RETIRING IN JANUARY WILL BE DISAPPOINTED WHEN THEY SEE THEIR SALARY

Advising civil servants who want to retire in January to pay attention to the flat-rate raise issue, Chief Social Security Specialist İsa Karakaş warned civil servants about this matter. Stating that all civil servants should calculate their retirement bonuses and pensions well before retiring, Karakaş included the following statements: “A raise was made in July. 17.55 percent of the raise was a proportional raise. 8,077 Turkish Lira was a flat-rate raise. This 8,077 Turkish Lira flat-rate raise will not be of any benefit to the pension you will receive in January. Likewise, the 8,077 Turkish Lira flat-rate raise will not be of any benefit to the retirement bonus you will receive.”

CALCULATE YOUR PENSION BY EXCLUDING THE FLAT-RATE RAISE

Explaining that only the 13,940 Turkish Lira portion covered by the 17.55 percent proportional raise out of the lowest civil servant salary of 22,017 Turkish Lira will be taken into account, Karakaş said, “However, no matter how much of a raise there is in January, the 8,077 Turkish Lira portion will not be of any benefit to the retirement bonus or pension in any way. Therefore, we can say that it is necessary to make this calculation and decide whether to retire or not.”

Karakaş stated that civil servants subject to the Pension Fund (Emekli Sandığı) have a 75 percent pension accrual rate upon retirement. Stating that despite such a high accrual rate, civil servant salaries and bonuses are tied to low amounts, Karakaş noted that the 8,077 Turkish Lira flat-rate raise is not taken into account from the 22,017 Turkish Lira salary, and the remaining 13,940 Turkish Lira is taken as the basis. For this reason, Karakaş pointed out that although the lowest civil servant salary is 22,017 Turkish Lira, the lowest civil servant pension is 9,876 Turkish Lira.

"YOUR PENSION WILL BE LESS THAN HALF OF THE SALARY YOU WORKED FOR"

Stating that the difference between the salary a working civil servant receives and the salary they receive the moment they retire has dropped to 44 percent, Karakaş assessed, “Due to the flat-rate raise, after January, while civil servants used to receive around 65-70 percent of the salary they received while working, this will drop to even below 50 percent.”

"THOSE RETIRING FROM THE PENSION FUND ARE AT AN ADVANTAGE"

Stating that with the law enacted in October 2008, the salaries of those who became civil servants after this date will be calculated according to the Social Security Institution (SGK) law rather than the Pension Fund, Karakaş said, “If a civil servant subject to the Pension Fund has 25 years of service, they have a 75 percent pension accrual rate. If the same civil servant is working according to the SGK Law No. 5510, all those who became civil servants after October 2008 are no longer subject to the Pension Fund. Therefore, the pension to be tied to them will be based on a 50 percent rate. In this case, a civil servant subject to the Pension Fund has a 75 percent accrual rate if they have 25 years of service, while they have a 50 percent rate if they are subject to SGK. In this case, there is a 25 percent difference in the pension accrual rate.”

News Source: 12punto