"Pensions": Retirement systems aim to maintain the standard of living of the insured after retirement

The General Pension and Social Security Authority confirmed that the retirement systems aim to maintain the quality of life of the insured by providing a stable income that helps them live in the same standard of living that they are accustomed to before retirement, and providing them with the necessary protection from the natural risks that they may be exposed to when they reach old age, and not only that, but also extends this umbrella of insurance protection to their family members upon the death of the breadwinner.

As part of its proactive post-retirement planning campaign "Be Prepared", the Authority pointed to the multiplicity of benefits obtained by the insured and his family through participation in insurance, and these benefits are represented in obtaining a pension or end-of-service gratuity in cases where the insured does not meet the conditions for entitlement to pension or compensation paid in cases of disability, death and work injuries.

She explained that the Authority's statistics for the past year 2022 show that the value of these expenses amounted to (4,692,556,998) dirhams, distributed as follows, (3,967,736,834) dirhams pensions, (721,005,168) dirhams end of service benefits, and (3,814,996.80) dirhams compensation for disability, death and injuries.

The Authority added that according to such statistics, social insurance is in fact an idea based on securing the future through a long-term project that does not consider retirement as a goal, but rather a means of securing the future when reaching an age stage in which the insured is unable to perform his work either due to reaching old age or suffering from any kind of disability or occupational disease during the work period.

She said that insurance, according to this view, is a partnership between the parties concerned with the success of this system and enhancing its ability to meet all the goals it aspires to achieve in the service of society, and that the breach of any of the relevant parties, will deviate it away from its path and goals, foremost of which is enhancing the family and social stability of the participants.

Therefore, the Authority always emphasizes the importance of joint work and cooperation in order to raise awareness among all these parties about their roles and responsibilities in this system, as the Authority is concerned with maintaining the financial sustainability of its fund by investing resources well in order to enhance its ability to meet its obligations towards current and future generations.

The Authority said that the role of employers is to commit to registering and paying contributions for the insured on time, not to prejudice the rights of the insured, and to avoid wrong practices that may violate the rights of the insured and his family, such as contributing to part of the salary of calculating his contribution without the rest of the salary or charging him any percentages in contributions not stipulated in the law, and others.

As for the insured, his role in maintaining the sustainability of the Authority's resources is to continue working for a longer period, because the real danger to pension funds comes from the number of retirees reaching a ceiling equivalent to the number of contributors, so that the resources decrease in exchange for increasing obligations, and therefore the Authority encourages an increase in years of service in order to achieve the interests of all beneficiaries of social insurance and support its efforts to provide the necessary financial resources to meet its obligations towards them for decades to come.

The Authority said that for retirees and beneficiaries, their role is to maintain the payment of pensions in their proper framework, and to report any updates to social, personal or professional data that may deprive them of the conditions for entitlement to the pension or a share in it, so that they do not have to return these amounts disbursed in excess to the Authority.

The Authority stressed that the continuation of the work of the funds, their growth and prosperity should be considered within the framework of the public interest of all those concerned with retirement and social insurance matters to raise awareness of the challenges facing pension funds or their beneficiaries, especially in the event of adopting practices or policies that do not serve or provide a decent life for their members, which requires everyone to look at retirement policies in light of the approach in achieving a balance between the needs of the individual and the capabilities of the funds and the public benefit.