Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin held a meeting with Chairman of the Social Fund Sergey Chirkov to discuss services and support measures for parents with children, participants of the special military operation in Ukraine (SMO), and improvements in service quality for citizens and organizations.
As Sergey Chirkov noted, the Social Fund of Russia (SFR) is actively involved in the national project "Family" and serves as a reliable partner for parents, fulfilling its obligations to provide social support to mothers and fathers. According to the head of the Fund, the two largest support measures are maternity capital and the unified benefit for children up to age 17 and pregnant women.
Chirkov specified that the "children's" component of the SFR budget has reached RUB 2.3 trillion this year. "Every 14 seconds, the state, represented by the Fund, transfers one million rubles to citizens," he said, citing payment statistics. "The unified benefit is provided for more than 10 million children and 330,000 pregnant women. All payments to families with children are assigned under the principle of social treasury, meaning it is enough to submit an electronic application; the Fund retrieves all other data through interdepartmental systems."
Maternity capital also remains a vital and popular measure. Since the program's launch, 14.7 million certificates have been issued, most of them proactively. A total of RUB 4.7 trillion has been allocated to support families under the program.
Chirkov reported that the Social Fund has implemented the directive from the President and the government regarding payments to parents who combine work with childcare. "People returning to the labor market during parental leave do not lose income, which is very important," Chirkov said. "We currently have 90,000 such individuals."
To support families with children, the Social Fund is expanding its digital infrastructure. Last year, a registry of large families was created, enabling faster access to services and the ability to generate an electronic certificate of large family status online, which can be presented at institutions such as theaters and museums. The registry currently contains data on 2.7 million families.
As the head of the Social Fund emphasized, convenient service delivery is one of the Fund's core missions and receives special attention. The key tool in this effort is digitalization. The Fund provides 280 million services annually, more than 90 percent of which are processed through electronic applications. At the same time, the Fund maintains in-person service formats.
"We operate 2,500 client service offices across the country," Chirkov explained. "Moreover, we have added an extra working day, the last Saturday of each month, so that people who prefer face-to-face consultations can visit us, ask questions, and get answers, because every social issue deserves special attention."
The Fund continues to implement a range of initiatives for the older generation. Since the beginning of this year, by decision of the President and the Government, pension indexation for working pensioners has been resumed. This was done proactively. In addition, a care allowance for individuals looking after persons with Group I disabilities and elderly citizens has been incorporated into the pension structure. This payment is now indexed and reaches significantly more recipients than before.
"We are also developing our communication centers for older adults," added Sergey Chirkov. "People are learning financial and digital literacy and discovering new interests."
A separate area of the Fund's work is support for participants of the special military operation in Ukraine (SMO). As noted by Sergey Chirkov, the Fund provides a wide range of measures for SMO veterans, including monthly combat-related payments and disability pensions. Most benefits and services are delivered proactively, without requiring applications from veterans or their families.
Chirkov stated that this year the Social Fund began providing treatment and rehabilitation for demobilized SMO participants. "We are deeply grateful for the trust placed in the Fund, allowing us to welcome our heroes into rehabilitation centers for recovery," noted the head of the Social Fund. Chirkov reported that the Fund currently operates 12 rehabilitation centers located in various regions, making them equally accessible to residents throughout the country.
Veterans of the SMO, as noted, can request rehabilitation services not only through the Fund's client offices but also electronically via the State Services portal. According to Chirkov, demobilized servicemen are also entitled to free transportation to rehabilitation centers.
"We plan to provide rehabilitation for 17,000 servicemen this year," he stated. "The program is being successfully implemented; more than 5,500 individuals are currently undergoing treatment or have completed it and returned home."
Currently, as the head of the Social Fund specified, more than 12,000 applications for health resort treatment or medical treatment have been received through proactive outreach to veterans.
"We schedule treatments throughout the year, at convenient times for travel. Some prefer summer, others autumn," Chirkov explained. "We try to take all of this into account so that our servicemen feel the attention and care of the state. For us, this is a matter of honor to ensure these services are of high quality and that the veterans feel supported." The head of the Social Fund assured that everything necessary will be done to achieve this.
Sergey Chirkov also informed Mikhail Mishustin that the Fund is ready to further expand its services for SMO veterans, particularly in prosthetics for servicemen, as the Fund has the expertise and experience in providing citizens with technical rehabilitation aids.
"Together with the Ministry of Labor, Mr. Mishustin, we would like to establish multifunctional hubs within our rehabilitation centers that will simultaneously provide several services. Not only rehabilitation services but also, where needed, immediate prosthetic support," Sergey Chirkov proposed.