1) Please tell me how the minimum adequacy thresholds will change in 2025?
The minimum adequacy threshold (MAT) for 2025 has not changed and remains at the level of 2023 and 2024.
MAT - minimum adequacy threshold - is the minimum amount of pension savings required to provide a monthly pension not lower than the minimum pension. Therefore, when withdrawing savings from the UAPF, the amount must remain within this threshold, which differs depending on the age of the contributor.
MAT is determined based on socio-economic indicators, as well as projected calculations of future pension contributions (from the minimum wage), investment returns, the minimum state basic pension payment, the minimum pension, and the subsistence minimum for calculating the amount of basic social benefits.
Let us remind you that in 2021, Kazakhstanis were given the opportunity to use pension surpluses (over MAT) to improve housing conditions, receive treatment, or transfer money to trust management. Detailed information is available on the UAPF website.
2) Is there a ceiling on pension benefit payments from the pension fund??
The amount of pension benefits from UAPF is not limited. It depends on the amount of pension savings and is calculated individually. The amount of savings is multiplied by 6.5% and divided by 12. This is how the monthly payment is obtained. Each year it will increase by 5%. The minimum payment from UAPF must be at least 70% of the subsistence minimum, and the maximum is not limited. It is worth noting that pension savings are paid until exhausted.
3) Is it true that UAPF manages pension savings at its own discretion? Are pension savings spent on various projects?
This is not true. The objectives of UAPF are to keep records of savings, including investment income, pay pension benefits, and provide services for the formation of pension capital to contributors and beneficiaries. The Fund is not involved in investing pension savings of citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Pension assets are managed by the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as investment portfolio managers since 2021. All actions are carried out in accordance with the approved Investment Declaration. The list of financial instruments permitted for acquisition at the expense of pension assets for the National Bank is approved by the Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and for investment portfolio managers - by the Resolution of the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market.
This means that all pension assets are invested in permitted financial instruments - government securities, bonds, deposits, and so on. Trustees have their own strategies for investing pension assets and independently determine the structure of the investment portfolio within the framework of the investment declaration. The choice of specific investment instruments is based on the strategy of the trustee and his tasks to ensure the reliability and return on investments.
4) What types of retirement pensions does UAPF pay??
Currently, the pension consists of three components: basic, solidarity and funded. UAPF pays only the funded component, while the basic and solidarity pensions are paid by the state. However, to assign pension benefits from UAPF at the expense of compulsory types of contributions in connection with reaching the retirement age, as well as to assign a basic and solidarity pension, beneficiaries must contact the Government for Citizens (PSC) at their place of residence. Pension benefits from UAPF at the expense of compulsory pension contributions (CPC), compulsory occupational pension contributions (COPC) are provided to persons who have pension savings in UAPF: men who have reached the retirement age of 63 years. For women, the age threshold will change over time. from January 1, 2024 - upon reaching 61 years; from January 1, 2028 - upon reaching 61.5 years; from January 1, 2029 - upon reaching 62 years; from January 1, 2030 – upon reaching 62.5 years; from January 1, 2031 – upon reaching 63 years;
Persons who have reached 55 years of age, for whom compulsory occupational pension contributions have been paid in total for at least 84 calendar months at the time of applying for a pension payment, subject to the termination of employment in jobs with hazardous working conditions, the professions of which are provided for by the list approved by the authorized state body, can also begin to receive pension savings as part of a special social benefit and you must also apply for it at the PSC.
Prior to reaching retirement age, persons with disabilities of the first or second group, established indefinitely, can receive pension payments. In this case, you must contact the UAPF divisions or through your personal account on the UAPF website.
All these benefits are made according to the schedule, that is, monthly.
Voluntary pension contributions can be received from the age of 50 or due to disability. Beneficiaries set their amount and frequency themselves.
5) After a person's death, savings remain in the UAPF or are transferred to the state?
All savings of the contributor are his/her property and are inherited. The family of the deceased may receive funeral payments, and the remaining money is distributed among the heirs. The amount of the funeral payment is 94 monthly calculation indices, but not more than the savings in the account. The savings remaining in the account are inherited in the manner established by the Civil Code. This may be inheritance by will, which may indicate persons who are not family members. If a will was not made, then the inheritance of pension savings is carried out between family members according to the same rules as for any other property of the deceased. Close relatives (wife/husband, children, parents) are called "first-order heirs by law". The further order, in the absence of first-order heirs, is established by civil law.
If the heir/heirs provide the list of documents in full, UAPF makes the payment within 10 working days from the date of acceptance or receipt of the documents by UAPF. The funds will be transferred to the bank account of the heir/heirs.
