Starting January 8, pensions will increase-but only for retirees who submit a required certificate, leaving many saying, “They know we don’t have internet access.”

On paper, the news looks good-until you read the fine print at the bottom of the letter.

In the waiting room of a retirement center on Tuesday morning, people were talking about a pension increase. “Starting January 8, they’re going up,” read aloud a man with thick glasses. Around him, others nodded-half relieved, half skeptical. Then someone noticed the bold sentence: “subject to submission of a missing certificate, to be sent electronically.” The silence shifted. A woman muttered, almost to herself, “They know we don’t have internet, right?” You could feel the small burst of joy deflate like a punctured balloon. A man slipped the letter into his pocket. “I don’t understand any of this digital stuff,” he mumbled. And that’s where the real story began.

“Starting January 8”: The raise that comes with a catch

On paper, it sounds simple: starting January 8, pensions are set to rise to reflect inflation and catch up (a bit) with rising bills. The headline is meant to reassure-to calm the anxiety that builds every time the electric bill hits the table. Many retirees read that first line and felt their shoulders drop, just a little.

Then they hit the condition: the increase applies only if a missing certificate is submitted on time-most often online. For thousands of people born long before smartphones, the promise suddenly looks like a trap door.

Take Margaret, 78, who lives alone in a small town and still pays her bills at the post office. She received the letter about the pension increase on a rainy Thursday. She read it three times at her kitchen table, her glasses slipping down her nose. The words “online portal” and “digital account” made her stop. No computer at home, no smartphone, no printer. Her niece lives two hours away and works long shifts. Margaret put the letter next to the toaster and told herself she’d “figure it out tomorrow.”

Three weeks passed. By the time she walked to the pension office to ask for help, the clerk quietly said: “The deadline for the certificate has passed.” The raise? Suspended.

Behind these individual stories is a cold, technical logic. Pension agencies request regular certificates-proof of life, marital status, or income-to prevent fraud and overpayments. Going digital cuts costs, speeds up processing, and makes internal controls easier. On a spreadsheet, the system looks flawless.

But a large share of retirees are on the wrong side of the digital wall. Many don’t have broadband, some live in areas with poor coverage, others have never used a mouse in their life. When the rule says “submit the missing certificate online or lose the raise,” it lands differently for someone who still keeps documents in a shoebox. It feels less like modernization and more like a filter.

How retirees can avoid losing the raise-in real life, not just on paper

The first concrete step is brutally simple: find out exactly which certificate is missing and how the agency expects to receive it. Not “in general,” but for your specific file.

That means reading the letter line by line and circling the key demand:

• proof-of-life certificate
  
• proof of residence
  
• marital status update
  
• income declaration
  

Once the requested document is clear, the path gets less foggy.

Then comes the practical workaround: if online access is impossible at home, move the “online” part to a place where a human can sit next to you. Local town halls, pension offices, social service centers, and even some libraries now offer help desks where staff can log into portals and upload documents with you on a shared computer. Being physically present with someone who knows the system changes everything.

There’s also a quieter but powerful ally: family and neighbors. Many retirees feel like they’re “bothering” people by asking for help with a website or a PDF. The result is they wait, postpone, and the deadline quietly passes.

A simple strategy is to treat the missing certificate like a medical appointment: pick a day, pick a person, and write it down-no vague “I’ll deal with it someday.” Let’s be honest: nobody really does that every day. For some, that means asking a grandchild to help create an online pension account, or giving a trusted relative a power of attorney for digital procedures. It’s not romantic, but it often saves the raise.

Retirees also learn to spot the quiet traps. One classic mistake: assuming the old paper certificate sent years ago is “still valid.” Agencies sometimes want a fresh version every year or after any life event-and they rarely make that crystal clear. Another pitfall: ignoring letters with bureaucratic language because they look like ads or generic reminders. That’s often where the “missing certificate” notice is hiding.

One retired teacher summed it up in a waiting room:

“They keep talking about modernization, but what I feel is exclusion. My generation built this system, and now the door has a digital code we never received.”

• Call or visit your pension office within a week of receiving any letter that mentions “suspension” or “missing document.”
• Ask directly: “What happens to my pension starting January 8 if I do nothing?” and write the answer down.
• Keep a simple folder at home labeled “Pension - Action Needed”, with only current requests inside.
• If you have no internet, identify one “digital ally” (family, neighbor, community group) and tell them clearly: “When a letter like this arrives, I’ll need you.”

A raise that exposes a deeper divide

This January 8 pension increase was supposed to be a small breath of air for people counting coins at the end of the month. Instead, it has highlighted a harsh divide between those who live comfortably online and those who barely own a basic cell phone.

The anger in the phrase “They know we don’t have internet access” isn’t just about Wi‑Fi. It’s about feeling like the rules are now written for another type of citizen-faster, more connected, more comfortable with forms that autofill. The rest-those who still go to the counter and sign in blue ink-feel quietly pushed to the edge.

The open question now isn’t just who will get the raise, but who will give up trying to claim it. Some will fight, ask for help, stand in line at public offices, insist. Others-worn down by past battles with bureaucracy-will look down and accept a smaller pension because they can’t face another maze.

That silent resignation never shows up in official statistics, yet it shapes daily life: the heat turned down, meat bought less often, the bus taken instead of a taxi to the doctor. In living rooms across the country, people talk less about revaluation percentages and more about what they’ll have to cut if the promise stays out of reach.

The story isn’t over. Advocacy groups are starting to push back, some pension funds are experimenting with home visits or paper alternatives, and a few local governments are quietly stepping in to bridge the digital gap.

The practical question left to each reader is personal: who, in my family or my building, might be losing this raise in silence because of a missing certificate-and a missing internet connection? The answer won’t fit in a decree. It lives in small gestures: knocking on a neighbor’s door, sharing a screen at the library. And it might be the difference between a line of text on January 8 and a real change at the end of the month.

Key point	Details	Why it matters to readers
Pension increase starting January 8	The increase applies only if required certificates are up to date	Understand why some people won’t see the raise in their bank account
Digital requirement	Missing documents often must be submitted through online portals	Identify the real obstacle and where to look for help
How to respond	Use local offices, relatives, and community groups as “digital allies”	Practical options to avoid losing money over a technicality

FAQ

• What certificate do I need to submit for the January 8 pension increase?
  The exact document is listed in the letter from your pension fund. It may be a proof-of-life certificate, proof of residence, marital status change, or income declaration. Read the requested document line carefully, or call the number on the letter and ask them to name it clearly.

• What happens if I don’t send the missing certificate?
  Your pension may stay at the old amount, or in some cases be partially suspended, until the certificate is received and processed. You usually don’t lose the right forever, but the payment is delayed-and that can put real pressure on your monthly budget.

• I don’t have internet access. Can I still get the raise?
  Yes, but you’ll likely need an alternative route: visit a local pension office, town hall, or social service center, or ask a trusted person with internet to help you log in and upload the document. Some agencies accept paper submissions if you request it explicitly.

• Can a family member submit the certificate for me?
  Often yes, with your consent. They may need a proxy, power of attorney, or to be added as an official contact on your pension account. Rules vary, so call the pension fund and ask what authorization is required.

• I missed the deadline. Is it too late to claim the increase?
  Not necessarily. Contact your pension fund as soon as possible, submit the required certificate, and ask whether the increase can be applied retroactively starting January 8. In many cases, missing the deadline means a delay-not a total loss-though each fund has its own rules.