Findings report

Description

The Ombudsman has noted even more delays in the procedure for issuing pension decisions by the social security organizations, followed by an increase in the number of pending cases. Indicatively, the period of time needed for the State General Accounting Office (GLK) and IKA-ETAM to complete the procedure for the payment of a pension is nearly one year and in some cases even more.

The same situation applies with organisations that grant lump sum allowances.

The delays in paying pensions are even longer when successive insurance periods are involved. The decisions in this case are often issued two years after the submission of the pension application.

The Ombudsman has made specific recommendations to the competent authorities to deal with the problem of excessive delays with regard to the payment of pensions. As a solution to the accumulation of pension applications in the State General Accounting Office (GLK), the Ombudsman recommended that an employee who retires and applies for a pension be paid a sum of money, in the form of a preliminary pension/advance, until his full pension is paid. The Ministry of Finance informed the Ombudsman that this issue has been included in its plans and is expected to be implemented in 2013.