Significant financial relief is coming for thousands of retirees as three different packages of backpay amounts from €1,200 to €12,500 will boost the incomes of 130,000 beneficiaries according to reporting by Antonis Vasilopoulos in the “Apogevmatini” newspaper. The backpay payments will begin at the end of August and reach their peak within September, offering significant support to pensioners.
Read also: September 2025 pensions: Payment dates – Amount refunds and military backpay
Pension recalculation for 50,000 beneficiaries
The first backpay package concerns 50,000 retirees who left the labor market after 2016 and have over 30 years of pensionable service. The beneficiaries include public and private sector employees as well as self-employed individuals who were subsequently insured in public utility and bank funds.
Approximately 10,000 retirees who retired after May 2016 are in delayed status without knowing it. Although they are entitled to backpay and increases based on law 4670/2020, the necessary recalculation of their benefits has not been carried out.
The pending cases mainly concern insured persons with hazardous or successive insurance and dual parallel insurance. The delays are due to private companies to which e-EFKA outsourced the relevant work.
According to the Vroutsis law, retirees with more than 30 years of insurance are entitled to increases based on improved rates:
- For 31 years of insurance: 1.08% increase in contributory pension
- For 40 years: 7.2% increase
- For intermediate cases: proportional rates
- After 32 years up to 40: €80 increase per year
Many retirees are unaware they are entitled to higher pensions due to lack of clear notifications from EFKA. In these cases, an application for recalculation is required.
Backpay for bank employees
From the end of August, backpay payments will begin for 10,000 bank employees. The problem arose because the relevant bank services did not provide accurate payroll data to EFKA.
A characteristic example is the 1,983 National Bank retirees who retired before 2016. The beneficiaries are now called to return money due to incorrect payroll data from NBG services and the former TSP-NBG.
Successive and parallel insurance
Thousands of retirees with successive or parallel insurance as well as insurance with hazardous and unhealthy stamps can claim backpay amounts up to €12,500. The beneficiaries have not received recalculation based on the new increased replacement rates of the Vroutsis law.
Retirees must submit a recalculation application to EFKA. The category mainly concerns those who retired after May 2016, have at least 30 years of insurance, and whose retirement decision still shows the Katrougalos law coefficients instead of the improved coefficients.
EFKA acknowledges the delays and calls on retirees to proactively check their retirement decisions. In cases of deviation from entitled amounts, a review application is required.
Many beneficiaries have not received relevant notification and are unaware they may be entitled to increases and backpay. In several cases the delay exceeds four years, affecting retirees’ livelihoods.
Backpay for 70,000 military retirees
Approximately 70,000 military retirees from the Armed Forces and Security Corps will receive backpay due to a new method of calculating deductions. Payments will begin within August and be completed by the end of September.
The amounts correspond to 27 months and result from non-application of law 4093/2012 to military retiree dividends. From April 2023 the relevant deduction ceased to apply, reducing deductions for those receiving pension and dividend totaling over €1,000.
Refunds will be made automatically without application submission and will appear as a separate amount in pension statements. Taxation will be conducted according to provisions for past years’ income.
The deduction is now imposed only on the main pension and not on the sum of main pension and dividend, reducing monthly withholding and increasing beneficiaries’ net income.
