The year's first meeting of the Board of the Social Fund of Russia took place today in Moscow. In addition to the Fund management, it was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Russia, the State Duma, and the Federation Council, all of whom are the Board members. Liaisons from professional and public associations, including the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, were also present. The Board meetings take place several times a year to discuss current issues and tasks facing the Social Fund.
At today's meeting, participants reviewed the preliminary results of the Social Fund's budget performance for the past year. Tatyana Suslina, First Deputy Chairwoman of the Social Fund, delivered a report on this topic. According to her, last year the fund had a number of new welfare measures added in. including maternity allowance for female students, a lump-sum payment for the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory, as well as subsidies to stimulate the hiring of certain categories of workers. The rehabilitation equipment spending has increased dramatically.
According to the data presented, insurance pensions were increased last year by 9.5%, while government pensions grew by 14.75%. The Fund's spending on mandatory pension insurance grew by RUB 1.3 trillion and totaled RUB 11.6 trillion. The Fund's family and childhood protection budget increased to RUB 2.3 trillion.
Marina Semyonova, Deputy Chairwoman of the Social Fund, spoke about the enforcement of legal amendments on pension coverage for mothers of large families. According to her, starting this year, the right to pension benefits has been expanded for women with five or more children. In order to implement the amendments, the Fund's branches across the country worked tirelessly to proactively increase pensions. The adjustment covered 403,000 women in total.
The speaker also pointed out that starting this year, a legal norm came into force equating heroic mothers to Heroes of Labour. Women with 10 or more children are now entitled to two benefits from the Social Fund: a monthly cash allowance which today stands at RUB 76,500, and a supplementary payment of RUB 36,600. To date, the monthly cash allowance has been granted to 186 heroic mothers with no applications required. The supplementary payment, assigned upon retirement, has been assigned to 111 heroic mothers.
The issue of improving preventive measures to reduce industrial injuries and occupational diseases among workers was raised at the meeting. Deputy Chairwoman Natalya Sidorova presented a report on the matter. Last year, according to her, the Social Fund, together with employers, implemented new rules for financing preventive measures. In particular, the application process was simplified, flexible options for changing the preventive measures plan were introduced and insureds now independently decide how to spend the money. All interactions between insureds and the Fund have been digitalized, from submitting the application to the actual reimbursement of funds.
Ms. Sidorova also spoke about the proposals to expand the list of preventive measures currently available to employers. Specifically, that concerns the option for companies to purchase industrial exoskeletons as a type of personal protective equipment. On top of that, a new approach to calculating the amounts allocated by companies toward financing preventive measures has been developed. The changes provide that the calculation will no longer factor in the Social Fund's expenditures from the previous calendar year on the payment of injury or illness allowances and on the payment of additional leave for an injured worker.
Andrey Batuev, Head of the Social Fund Department for Insurance Payments, presented a report on electronic childbirth certificates. He reported that childbirth certificates allow women to pay for antenatal clinics' services during pregnancy, for healthcare during and after childbirth, as well as for routine checkups for children under 12 months. The certificates are electronic, ensuring direct exchange of information between healthcare institutions and the Social Fund with no input from the women themselves.
According to the data presented, last year the Social Fund paid for birth certificate services for 955,200 women and provided 1.3 million medical check-up services for children under 12 months. In total, nearly RUB 11.1 billion was transferred under birth certificates to pay for manipulations related to pregnancy and birth.
Igor Bukhtiyarov, Director of the Izmerov Research Institute of Occupational Health, spoke about the program focused on preserving the health and professional longevity of workers. His report was focused on the application of knowledge-intensive technologies as a foundation for implementing national projects and the pilot execution of the Trans-Baikal Model at facilities where the risk of harm to the health and life of workers is high.
For reference, the Social Fund Board is a collegial governing body. that meets at least once in every three months. The Board reviews issues related to the Fund's involvement in government programs and priority areas for the development of compulsory pension and social insurance systems. Board members also take part in discussions concerning the Fund's draft regulations and, if necessary, provide recommendations on sending these drafts for consideration to the Russian Trilateral Commission for the Regulation of Social and Labour Relations.