Mom's joy: for parents on maternity leave, they offered to increase their insurance experience

State Duma deputies are proposing a new initiative to improve the demographic situation in the country and increase the birth rate. In particular, parents want to increase their insurance record on maternity leave. On September 3, a bill will be submitted to the lower house of parliament to raise it from 1.5 to three years for each child. This measure will help parents to retire in a timely manner, the authors of the project are sure. At the same time, United Russia noted that before considering the initiative, it should be assessed whether the measure will increase the burden on the pension system of the Russian Federation. At the same time, on behalf of Vladimir Putin, the State Duma is considering the initiative of the Ministry of Labor to increase insurance experience and raise pensions for families with five or more children.

How MPs want to increase insurance experience for parents

The State Duma proposes to increase parents' insurance experience (this is the period during which insurance premiums were paid for a person to the Social Fund of Russia) during parental leave. On September 3, deputies of the Fair Russia — For Truth Party (SRWP) will submit to parliament a bill to increase the insurance period from 1.5 to three years for each child. (Izvestia has the text of the document).

The purpose of the bill is to help parents retire on time in the future, said party leader Sergei Mironov.

To qualify for an old-age pension, you need to reach not only a certain age, but also accumulate 15 years of insurance experience and 30 retirement coefficients.

— Mom is also a hard and responsible job, and the state should appreciate it. Today, when the country urgently needs to improve the demographic situation, we consider it absolutely unfair that periods of child care are included in the insurance record with restrictions. On our initiative, the care of each child under the age of one and a half years will be counted in the length of service in double the amount, " he told Izvestia.

One of the authors of the initiative, MP Marina Kim, believes that the state should recognize the work of a mother caring for a child as full-fledged work, and not reset the years devoted to children.

— For example, a woman who has raised four children today gets only six years of experience, and if she wants to have more children, then that's it, you can't go on maternity leave anymore, the state does not allow. The system we propose eliminates artificial "losses" and gives confidence in the future: the same six years of the decree will be counted as 12 years of service, which is guaranteed to provide a parent with a decent pension and the opportunity to devote himself to his grandchildren in old age," said the parliamentarian.

The deputy spoke about a recent conversation with a woman who raised six children. She admitted that "she devoted more than 15 years to raising her kids, but it turned out that the state recognizes only part of that time. It's like I wasn't working."

It is worth noting that the bill does not imply an increase in the size of pensions and does not require additional budget expenditures. It is aimed at ensuring that the parent can reach the required age limit at 15 as soon as possible and retire on time in the future. To do this, the party proposes to introduce an appropriate amendment to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. "When calculating the length of insurance service, the periods of care of one parent for each child until they reach the age of one and a half years are counted in the insurance period in double the amount," the text of the bill says.

The deputies are confident that such an initiative is especially relevant in conditions when it is important to maintain the birth rate and protect large families in the country. According to Rosstat, in 2024, the natural decline of the Russian population amounted to 596.2 thousand people. This is 20% more than in 2023 (495.3 thousand people). The increase in this indicator is explained by the fact that fewer and fewer children are born in the Russian Federation every year, while the number of deaths is increasing. In particular, the number of children born last year decreased by 3.4% to 1,222 million.

What other initiatives are the State Duma considering to increase insurance experience?

At the end of last year, Vladimir Putin called the task of increasing the birth rate "very difficult." He called for changing the demographic situation in 2025 and recalled that thanks to the national project "Demography", 246,000 new places in nurseries were created in Russia and almost 1,700 kindergartens were opened.

— Next year it is necessary to create conditions for a change in the demographic situation. I understand that this is a very difficult task, and, frankly speaking, due to objective circumstances, maybe not everything depends on us," the Russian president said.

At the end of 2024, following a meeting of the State Council, he instructed to remove the six-year limit and take into account all periods of child care for families with five or more children in the insurance record. In response, the Ministry of Labor developed a corresponding bill and submitted it to the State Duma in the spring session, after which it was adopted in the first reading.

The initiative of the Ministry of Labor will affect about 400,000 women who have five or more children. This will require about 11 billion rubles in 2026 after recalculating their insurance experience, State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation Andrey Pudov said at a plenary session of the State Duma.

The new draft law on increasing the insurance period from 1.5 to three years for each child will complement the idea of the Ministry of Labor, Sergei Mironov said. To clarify this issue, Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of the Russian Federation.

"This is not just a continuation of the Ministry of Labor's initiative, but a fundamental step forward in strengthening the state's social policy towards the family," said Sergey Mironov.

United Russia appreciated this idea positively, but noted that it should be considered in more detail whether it would lead to an increase in the burden on the pension system in the future.

— Our party's approach is to calculate in advance how much the state will actually be able to guarantee certain social obligations. We know that the president has now decided to index pensions for working pensioners, meaning that the burden on the pension system is increasing, so we need to understand whether it will "pull" in the future. It's a good idea, but we need to consider all the possibilities," Elena Tsunaeva, first deputy chairman of the Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans' Affairs, told Izvestia.

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation also supported the idea of increasing the insurance period for the maternity period. In addition, it is necessary to extend social benefits from the state for all three years of the decree, said Nina Ostanina, head of the Committee for Family Protection, Fatherhood, Motherhood and Childhood of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

— Unfortunately, today we have three years of maternity leave, and the payments are only for one and a half. I think the government needs to be constantly reminded of this," she believes.

The deputies also supported the initiative of the Ministry of Labor. At the same time, the Communist Party called it half-hearted, arguing that it applies only to women. The contribution of men to the upbringing of children is simply underestimated today, so it would be good to extend this measure to men today, Nina Ostanina concluded.