Basic Pension’s Couples’ Reduction to Be Phased Down Starting in 2027 (2026.03.16.)

(The Pension Future Forum holds the position that abolishing the Basic Pension’s couples’ reduction should apply only to low-income older households.)

The government has decided that, starting in 2027, it will gradually lower — beginning with low-income groups — the reduction rate that had been applied to older couples receiving the Basic Pension.

According to the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee on the 16th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare reported the status of its major policy initiatives — including this content — at the plenary meeting of the National Assembly standing committee held on the 10th.

In this report, the Ministry put forward a plan to expand the coverage of the existing pension system in order to guarantee the public a stable old-age life in step with the era of super-aging.

In particular, this included a policy direction to first improve the couples’ reduction system — which had cut the pension amount by 20% simply because a couple both received the Basic Pension — focusing on vulnerable groups first.

The Basic Pension couples’ reduction system currently in effect works by cutting 20% from each spouse’s pension amount when a couple in the bottom 70% by income among those aged 65 and over both receive the pension.

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Indeed, according to a report by the National Pension Research Institute, the cost-of-living burden actually felt at different income levels showed a large gap from the situation the system assumes.

According to the survey results, the average monthly consumption expenditure of the poorest older-couple households, belonging to the bottom 20% by income, was as much as 1.74 times higher than that of older people living alone.

This figure far exceeds the 1.6-fold benchmark used by the system, suggesting that if the Basic Pension is cut by 20%, the economic hardship these households feel is far harsher than that of an average household.

The government prepared a supplementary measure to address this ‘average trap.’

Ahead of this, the Ministry had already disclosed, in a plan submitted to the National Assembly, that for older couples in the bottom 40% by income, it would lower the current 20% reduction rate to 15% by 2027 and gradually reduce it further to 10% by 2030.

This is interpreted as reflecting an intent not for a simple across-the-board cut, but to first protect the vulnerable groups most in need of the Basic Pension’s help.

https://n.news.naver.com/article/001/0015960448?sid=102