Expressive of life after retirement

Pensions.. Retirement Aims to Maintain the Standard of Living of the Insured

The Pensions Authority fulfilled its financial obligations for the past year with total insurance expenditures amounting to AED 4.692 billion. This aims to enhance family and community stability, a key objective of insurance, which depends on a successful partnership between all parties involved in the insurance relationship, each fulfilling their responsibilities.

The General Authority for Pensions and Social Security affirmed that retirement systems aim to maintain the quality of life of the insured by providing a stable income that enables them to maintain the same standard of living they were accustomed to before retirement.

These systems also provide necessary protection against natural hazards they may face in old age. Furthermore, this insurance coverage extends to their family members upon the death of the breadwinner.

As part of its "Be Prepared" campaign for proactive post-retirement planning, the Authority highlighted the numerous benefits that insured individuals and their families receive through insurance. These benefits include a retirement pension, an end-of-service bonus in cases where the insured does not meet the eligibility requirements for a pension, and compensation paid in cases of disability, death, and work-related injuries.

The Authority added that, according to such statistics, social insurance is essentially a concept based on securing the future through a long-term project. Retirement is not viewed as an end in itself, but rather as a means to secure the future when the insured reaches an age where they are no longer able to work, whether due to old age or any type of disability or occupational disease acquired during their working life.

The Authority stated that, from this perspective, insurance is a partnership among all parties involved in the success of this system and its ability to fulfill all the objectives it seeks to achieve in serving society. Therefore, any breach of this partnership by any of the relevant parties will deviate it from its course and objectives, foremost among which is strengthening the family and social stability of the participants.

Therefore, the Authority consistently emphasizes the importance of joint action and cooperation to raise awareness among all stakeholders regarding their roles and responsibilities within this system. The Authority is committed to maintaining the financial sustainability of its fund by investing resources wisely to enhance its ability to fulfill its obligations to current and future generations.

The Authority stated that employers' role is to ensure timely registration and payment of contributions for insured individuals, to uphold the rights of the insured, and to avoid any practices that could infringe upon the rights of the insured and their family. These practices include contributing only a portion of the salary used for contributions, or imposing contribution rates not stipulated by law, among other things.

As for the insured individual, their role in maintaining the sustainability of the Authority's resources lies in continuing to work for a longer period. The real risk to pension funds arises when the number of retirees reaches a ceiling equal to the number of subscribers, thus decreasing resources while increasing obligations.

Therefore, the Authority encourages longer years of service to serve the interests of all social insurance beneficiaries and to support its efforts in securing the necessary financial resources to meet its obligations to them for decades to come.

The Authority stated that the role of retirees and beneficiaries is to ensure that pensions are disbursed correctly and to report any updates to their social, personal, or professional data that might disqualify them from pension eligibility or a share thereof, so that they are not later required to repay any overpayments to the Authority.

The Authority emphasized that the continued operation, growth, and prosperity of pension funds should be viewed within the framework of the public interest for all stakeholders in retirement and social security matters.

This includes raising awareness of the challenges facing pension funds and their beneficiaries, particularly in cases where practices or policies are adopted that fail to serve or provide a decent life for their members. Therefore, everyone must consider retirement policies in light of the approach that balances individual needs with the resources of the funds and the public good.