Background information

In the face of the fifth COVID-19 wave the Bulgarian Post office introduced new arrangements to pension payments. The newly introduced time schedule complement the already adopted safety measures at the end of 2020. Bulgarian Posts announced in November 2020 that all its customers must enter the site one by one and keep a safe distance from each other (minimum 2 metres). Each person must wear a face mask covering both nose and mouth. Thus pensioners are not supposed to gather at the same time at the post office and to be present in an overcrowded premise.

Content of measure

The payment of pensions was scheduled to take place from 7 December 2021 to 20 December 2021. The pensioners must strictly comply with the already established order when entering the post offices. Bulgarian Posts allowed all pensioners who are not able to visit the post office for receiving the monthly pension to be provided with additional opportunities to obtain their monthly income. The options described are applicable during the period of announced epidemic situation:

• Pension payment at the home of pensioners over 68 years of age if an application is submitted beforehand at the post office, where the pensioner receives his personal pension
• Pension payment to an authorized representative of the pensioner possessing an authorized written permission
• Pension payment to the spouse, adult children or parents of the pensioner. The recipient must prove relationship status by presenting own identity document and identity document of the pensioner.

Use of measure

The measure is applied to all Bulgarian Posts offices which amount to over 2,981 post offices. The offices are located all over the country and cover even the most re-mote places in the country. Due to the emergency epidemic situation in December 2021 payment of pensions at the post offices was scheduled in a way that gave priority tp pensioners over 60 years old. Thus people over 60 years were allowed to enter the post offices at the beginning of working hours until 12.00 p.m. The time schedule was made announced at the entrance of the premises. Customers under this age, as well as those who wished to be served with other post services, had to visit post offices after 12.00 p.m.

Contents

• Basic working time
• Other topics

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Does not apply to businesses	Older citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Company / Companies	No special funding required

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement as case not in social partner domain	No involvement as case not in social partner domain
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Company level

Involvement

No involvement of social partners' in the implementation of the measure.

Views and reactions

No views of social partners' encountered at the time of implementation.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 01 November 2020: Информация за Коронавирус COVID - 19 (www.bgpost.bg)
• 29 November 2021: От 7 декември „Български пощи“ ще обслужват приоритетно хората над 60 години до обяд, при стриктно спазване на противоепидемичните мерки (coronavirus.bg)