- Статьи
- Economy
- Don't stick your contribution in: the self-employed didn't believe in pensions and sick days
Don't stick your contribution in: the self-employed didn't believe in pensions and sick days
The self-employed have decided not to invest in their future pensions and sick leave. And this does not conflict with the plans of the authorities — in 2026, the Social Fund expects to collect 7 billion voluntary contributions in each area. But the start turned out to be weak: in the first quarter, 574 million (8.5% of the annual plan) were received for pension insurance, and 34 million (0.5%) for sick leave, Izvestia found out. The reasons are expensive contributions (from 70 thousand) and an unobvious benefit. Because of these savings, self-employed people will have to rely on minimal social support. Under what conditions the mechanism can actually work and why, as a result, the problem risks becoming common, is described in the Izvestia article.
How the self-employed can take care of their future
The authorities expect that in 2026, self-employed citizens will voluntarily transfer 7 billion rubles to the Social Fund for two types of insurance: future pensions and payments in case of illness. We are talking about people who do not have an employer, such as the self—employed, sole proprietors, lawyers, notaries, and other private practitioners. No one pays fees for them, so they have to join the system themselves.
This forecast appeared after a successful 2025. At that time, voluntary pension payments exceeded 3 billion, almost twice the planned amount. 656 million were received from individual entrepreneurs for sick leave and maternity leave, which is also about twice as high as expected. For the self-employed, this mechanism has been operational only since 2026. And this year, the plan has been sharply raised: for pensions — 3.4 times, to 6.8 billion, for health insurance — almost 20 times, to 7 billion. This follows from the report of the Accounting Chamber on the budget of the Social Fund, which was reviewed by Izvestia.
But already the first quarter showed that the interest is much weaker than expected. Citizens have transferred only 575 million for future pensions, which is 8.5% of the annual forecast. Compared to the same period in 2025, receipts decreased by 13%. Only 34 million rubles were allocated for sick leave, which is 0.5% of the plan.
In Russia, insurance guarantees for self—employed people have long been based on the principle of "if you want, pay for yourself." In 2026, in order to get a full year of experience, you need to transfer at least 71.5 thousand to the Social Fund. The system is similar with sick leave: sole proprietors, lawyers and notaries could be insured earlier, and from 2026, the self-employed were offered to pay 1.3 thousand or 1.9 thousand rubles per month in order to receive money in case of disability. Maternity payments are not included in this experiment for them.
The Accounting Chamber believes that due to weak revenues, there is a risk of overstating the annual forecast and shortfall in funds. Izvestia sent a request to the Social Fund.
Why Russians don't want to voluntarily contribute to retirement
The main reason for the low interest is the high entry threshold, says Natalia Milchakova, a leading analyst at Freedom Global. According to her, the annual payment of 70 thousand is too much for many, especially with unstable incomes. At the same time, according to the Federal Tax Service, by June the number of self-employed reached 17 million people, but a significant part of them earned irregular wages.
In addition, some of the self-employed actually have a main job, the expert noted. In this case, the employer is already making deductions for them, and the voluntary payment to the Social Fund becomes an additional burden.
There is also a psychological barrier, says Lyudmila Ivanova-Shvets, associate professor at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. According to her, since Soviet times, pensions have been perceived as a state responsibility area. Frequent reforms after the collapse of the USSR also did not help to form the habit of taking care of future payments themselves. This approach cannot be changed in a few years, she stressed.
At the same time, the deferred nature of pension rights with low current profitability makes the benefits of contributions not obvious to the self-employed, according to Tatiana Podolskaya, an expert at the Presidential Academy. At the same time, there are no harsh penalties for refusal: even without voluntary payments, a citizen can still count on minimal security (social pension). Therefore, current savings are often stronger than long-term risks.
An additional factor is the complexity of the procedure, the expert added. The procedure for joining the system, calculating payments, and refunding funds remains bureaucratic and poorly integrated into digital services, such as the Federal Tax Service application. It also reduces the desire to register voluntarily.
What will happen to people without pension rights
Refusal of voluntary contributions can result in a very low pension for self-employed people in the future, warns Natalia Milchakova from Freedom Global. If a person does not accumulate enough experience and points, he may not receive an insurance pension and will rely only on social security in old age. For comparison, the average social security payment in the Russian Federation is now less than 17 thousand per month, while the insurance payment is over 27 thousand. Simply put, savings now will result in lower payments in years to come.
This is also a risk for the entire system, says Tatiana Podolskaya from the Presidential Academy. The Russian pension model is based on the principle of solidarity: current employees use their contributions to finance payments to the elderly. But if tens of millions of the self-employed barely participate in this system, the burden will increasingly fall on white employment.
The situation with sick leave is less clear, Natalia Milchakova believes. On the one hand, the self-employed or sole proprietor without voluntary insurance is deprived of payments in case of illness. On the other hand, many people initially do not count on sick leave when they choose this type of employment, and in case of illness they pay for treatment themselves or use private medicine. If a person is employed in parallel, they will receive payments at their place of work.
However, for those who have self—employment as their only source of income, the risk remains direct. An uninsured person loses the right to compensation for earnings during illness, Tatiana Podolskaya emphasized. That is, a few weeks without a job can immediately turn into several weeks without money.
Therefore, the system needs to be made understandable and profitable, the expert believes. Social insurance for the self-employed cannot look like charity for the benefit of the state. It should become a regular part of the business culture for those who work for themselves.
To do this, the expert suggests changing the incentives. The first step is digitalization: in the application for the self—employed, you can make a simple "auto-subscription" for contributions based on actual income. The second is tax benefits: it is necessary to allow reducing the tax on professional income by the amount of insurance payments. Then the contribution will be a way to reduce the workload. The third is a flexible tariff for people with a small turnover: a fixed amount is too high for many now.
If nothing is changed, in 10-15 years the system may face a serious fork, warns Tatiana Podolskaya. More and more former self-employed people will retire without sufficient participation in the insurance system, and this will increase pressure on the budget.
In this case, the state will have two painful options, the expert believes. The first is to compensate for the loss of income by increasing the burden on employers and the officially employed. This will increase business costs and may encourage people to move into the shadows. The second is to restrain the growth of pensions. With inflation, this will mean a decrease in their purchasing power.
Thus, for now, voluntary contributions do not look like insurance for the future, but as an expensive and unobvious option. People are saving now, the government is not getting enough money today, and the main risk is postponed for later: in a few years, millions of self-employed people may reach retirement age with almost no insurance rights. Then the entire system will have to pay for these savings — the budget, business, and future retirees themselves.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
