ASTANA – Kazakhstan provides a number of allowances and social benefits to different groups within society. The State Centre for Pension Payment released information this year indicating the amount in both categories increased by 9 percent.
The difference between allowances and social benefits is based on the payment source. According to egov.kz, the Kazakh government’s electronic services portal, the former are paid from the budget to the people who do not participate in the system of obligatory social insurance, while the latter are paid from the social insurance fund to those who participate in the system. A participant is an individual whose employer pays social expenditures to the fund.
Most allowances and social benefits are computed using the monthly calculated index (MCI) set every year by the budget law. This year’s MCI is 1,982 tenge (US$7.09).
No doubt the largest group of recipients is pregnant women. The child birth allowance depends on the number of children; for the first three youngsters, women receive 30 MCIs, or 59,460 tenge (US$212.66). For the fourth and additional children, mothers are given 50 MCIs, or 99,100 tenge (US$354.43).
Mothers are also provided with maternity allowances calculated by multiplying the average monthly income from the prior 12 months of employment by the index of the number of days of staying out of work. Social contributions must be completed for that period. According to Kazakhstan’s Labour Code, women are provided with maternity leave for 70 days before delivery and 56 calendar days afterwards (in the case of a complicated delivery or delivery of more than two children, the latter figure is increased to 70 days).
Mothers receive maternity benefits until the child reaches his or her first birthday, which are calculated by multiplying the average income of the mother by the special income replacement index of 0.4. For example, if the average salary before the leave was 100,000 tenge (US$357.64), the woman will receive an additional 40,000 tenge (US$143.06) in maternity leave and child birth allowance per month for one year.
For disabled children, parents are given a benefit in the amount of one minimum wage per child. For 2015, the minimum wage is 21,364 tenge (US$76.41); in 2014, it was 19,966 tenge (US$71.41).
Kazakhstan also provides benefits for disabled persons, veterans of the Great Patriotic War, social labour heroes, mothers with many children (six and upwards) and persons who work in hazardous conditions.
Those who fought in World War II get 16 MCIs, or 31,712 tenge (US$113.42), every month in addition to their pension. Mothers with six and more children receive six MCIs, or 11,892 tenge (US$42.53), each month.
Disabled people are divided into three groups, with benefits dependent upon their classification. The first group receives the minimum wage multiplied by 1.42, or 30,337 tenge (US$108.50); for group two, it is the minimum wage times 1.16 for 24,783 tenge (US$88.63) and for the last group, it is the minimum wage times 0.91 for 19,422 tenge (US$69.46).
The state also provides 15.7 MCIs for burial payment equalling 31,117 tenge (US$111.29).
