Over the first six months of 2020, the Russian Pension Fund issued over 590,000 maternity capital certificates. Payments of maternity capital funds exceeded 110 billion rubles in the reporting period.
The substantial increase in the number of certificates issued by the PFR (+95% year-on-year) results from the all-time broadest expansion of the program. Now maternity capital is assigned after the birth or adoption of the first child and amounts to 466,617 rubles.
Families have been receiving maternity capital certificates automatically since April 15. The Pension Fund proactively issues maternity capital certificates using information from the Civil Registry Office and sends the notification to the parent’s account on the PFR website or the Public Services Portal. Over three months, territorial bodies of the Pension Fund issued more than 230,000 certificates without applications from parents.
Besides, it has been easier for families since April to spent maternity capital funds in the most popular way chosen by approximately 60% of all families – mortgage or home improvement loan. They can directly approach a bank and file an application for using maternity capital funds to pay the loan and interest or make the first mortgage payment. In order to do that, the Pension Fund concluded agreements on information exchange with over 580 branches of Russian banks all over the country.
Maternity capital is provided as part of the Demography national project. Please note that the first maternity capital certificate was issued in March 2007. Back then government support to families with children amounted to 250,000 rubles. Nowadays, the sum has grown 2.5 times to 616,617 rubles.