Pensions now paid within 30 days of retirement

The labour ministry on Wednesday announced it had completed its implementation of measures to ensure all retirees receive their first pension payment within 30 days of retirement.

Moves to accelerate pension payments had first been made by the government in September, with more than 6,000 new pensioners now receiving their first payments within a month of their retirement in the meantime.

The move to reduce the time required for people to receive their first pension payment to a maximum of 30 days had been mentioned in President Nikos Christodoulides’ “State of the Republic” speech on Monday, alongside around 80 other policies.

Speaking about the project’s implementation on Wednesday, Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou said it was “indicative of the minimum appreciation that the state must show towards workers who have been consistently paying into the system”.

“They expect that in their transition from work to retirement, the state will do the obvious, meeting its own obligations on time,” he said.

He added that the government’s “human-centred” approach “brings tangible results which are gradually improving the daily lives of thousands of people, addressing problems and correcting errors”.