Relevance
Accrued-to-date
pension entitlements represent the monetary amount a pension provider is
required to set aside in present day to be able to cover all the pensions
accrued through contributions paid by eligible persons and to be paid out
during future periods.
Following
EU Regulation 549 of 2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21
May 2013 it has become compulsory for all EU Member States to report their
total pension entitlements accumulated by every member of employment-related
pension schemes or social security pension schemes. The resulting entitlements
are to be inserted in a new supplementary table on pension schemes (Table 29)
and transmitted to Eurostat.
In Malta’s case,
Table 29 records the total pension entitlements amassed from the (i) Social
Security and (ii) Treasury pension systems.
Methodological
description
In collaboration with the
Research Centre for Generational Contracts (RCG) at Freiburg University, a
suitable model was formulated to estimate Malta’s pension entitlements. Pensioners
and Contributors micro datasets were obtained from the Department of Social
Security and the Treasury Department and inserted into the model.
A forward-looking
approach is applied to estimate pension entitlements, taking into consideration
each eligible contributor’s historical data in order to forecast their future
entitlements. Current pensioners have already obtained their full rights and so
their maximum entitlements have already been identified.
Accuracy and reliability of data
Data quality is assured
through adherence of the guidelines established in the Eurostat/ECB
Technical Compilation Guide for Pension Data in National Accounts.
Furthermore, any changes
made to the Maltese pension system or to the key model assumptions (discount
rate, wage rate, etc.) are inserted into the model during the base year in
which such changes occurred.
Accrued-to-date
pension entitlements do not represent a measurement of a pension’s system
sustainability. Only entitlements up to the reference year in question are
taken into consideration, implying a limited time horizon. Moreover all present
or future assets in relation to the pension system are being disregarded. Such
assets are necessary for one to be able to assess the long-term sustainability for
any pension system.
Timeliness
and punctuality of data
According to ESA 2010
requirements, data is to be transmitted to Eurostat two years (‘t+24 months’)
after the end of the reference period. It is compulsory for Member states to
transmit Table 29 every three years. For the years in between countries are
invited to send their entitlements on a voluntary basis.
Following the
transmission of Table 29 to Eurostat, the NSO publishes a news release focusing
on Malta’s pension entitlements. Data for reference year t is published within
‘t+30 months’, as scheduled in the News
Release Calendar.
Accessibility
and clarity of data
Pensions publications for
Malta and other countries may be accessed from the following link found on the
Eurostat website: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/pensions/other-information.
In addition to Table
29, Eurostat also requested countries to transmit pension fact sheets (link
provided below). A summary of the main criteria applicable for each pension
system is provided in these sheets, along with a brief explanation of the data and
model used to compute the accrued pension rights. Any major assumptions and
reforms incorporated into the model are also listed in the fact sheets.
Coherence
and comparability/consistency of data
Standard assumptions established
in the Eurostat/ECB Technical Compilation Guide were applied by all countries
in their pension entitlement calculations, hence ensuring geographical
comparability.
Pension entitlements data is available and comparable
from 2012 onwards. Any changes in
entitlements due to pension reforms, changes made to the key model assumptions
or any other changes in volume are reported separately in Table 29.