Criteria for disability pensions in the Czech Republic to toughen January 2010

From Ceske Noviny:

PRAGUE - The criteria for the distribution of disability allowances will toughen as of January 2010 under a new directive issued by the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry, ministry spokeswoman Stepanka Filipova told CTK Oct. 21.

Instead of the current system of full and partial disability pensions, the people who cannot work or whose work ability is limited as a result of their health handicap, will receive three types of pensions, under the directive, a part of the ongoing first phase of the Czech pension reform.

At present, the full disability pension goes to the disabled whose ability to work has declined by at least 66 percent. The new directive raises the limit to 70 percent, thus reducing the number of those eligible.

"The goal of the directive is not to save money on disabled people," Filipova said.

She said the current rules have become outdated as a result of medicine's development, and had to be adjusted.

According to expert studies by the Czech J.E. Purkyne Medical Society, new diagnostic and treatment methods have markedly improved the prognosis of what was formerly patients' unfavourable state.

"Modern medicine also diminishes the negative consequences [of treatment] and helps improve the quality of life and enhance [the patients'] ability to work," Filipova said.

Under the new directive, the partial disability pension, now going to the people whose work ability has decline by at least 33 percent in consequences of impaired health, will be divided into two categories.

Those whose work abilities are 35 to 49 percent lower will receive a lower pension than until now, while those with work abilities 50 to 69 percent lower will receive the sum which goes to the partially disabled now.

The changes are not to apply to the current recipients.

When assessing an applicant's eligibility to disabled pension, the authorities will consider to what extent and for how long his/her health trouble restricts his/her ability to work. The chance for the applicant's retraining and gaining a job will also be taken into account.

According to statistical figures, over 533,000 people in the 10-million Czech Republic received disability pensions this September. Out of them, 322,900 were full and 210,500 partial disability pensioners.

The average of the full and the partial monthly disability pension was 9,674 and 6,071 crowns, respectively.

The average monthly wage in the Czech Republic is about 23,000 crowns.

The number of disability pension recipients has been rising in the Czech Republic. In 2000, the authorities newly granted 39,000 of them, compared to 50,000 last year and 35,820 in the first quarters of 2009.

The rising number of disability pensioners is also due to the rising number of serious injuries with permanent consequences, including road accidents. Sometimes disability pension is sought by those who fail to gain a job for a long time.