The Social Fund has transferred pensions and child benefits that fall on the January holidays ahead of time. Over 24.7 million people who chose to receive benefits through banks, got their money ahead of schedule.
According to Sergey Chirkov, Chairman of the Social Fund, all documents required to deliver the payments were prepared and handed over to credit institutions and post offices on time. Funds are credited to recipients' account under local offices' control.
"Pre-New Year payments were received by 16.1 million retirees and 8.6 million families with children," Mr. Chirkov said. "On December 25, 26, and 30, the Social Fund transferred pensions, welfare benefits and child allowances which were supposed to arrive between January 1 and January 12, to recipients' bank cards ahead of time. The Russian Post delivers funds during holidays following their regular schedule."
Head of the Fund added that all types of pensions, including insurance, social and contributory plans, will be paid early. All the due payments reached retirees automatically, with no applications needed. If the money is delivered by the Russian Post, the dates of fund transfers do not change. Postal workers will start home deliveries on January 3, along with post offices themselves, which retirees are also welcome to get their pensions from.
Child allowances that Russians received ahead of schedule at the end of December include the unified allowance for children under 17, the allowance for children under 18 months and the allowance for the first child under 3 years. Pregnant women entitled for the unified allowance and the families of conscripted servicemen got their benefits as well.
The delivery of pensions through Russian Post offices in January will follow the approved schedule starting January 3. All the required money was transferred by the Social Fund in advance. 7.1 million retirees and 200,000 families with children will receive their pensions and other allowances by post from the 1st to the 14th day of the month.
The usual bank payment schedule will resume for pensions on January 13