Key facts
Supplementary Benefits to the Old Age and Survivors’ Insurance (AHV) and to the Invalidity Insurance (IV) were introduced in 1966 as a transitional benefit until the pensions reach a minimum level of subsistence. In the meantime, the Supplementary Benefits have developed as an indisputable component of the first pillar of provisions for old age, widowed spouses or children and for the disabled. They assist in cases where the pension and other income do not cover minimum costs of living. The Supplementary Benefits are a demand-related insurance benefit. A person eligible for an entitlement must lodge a claim. The execution falls under the jurisdiction of the cantons who have generally designated the cantonal compensation offices as the implementing agency for Supplementary Benefits. The cantons of Basel City, Geneva and partially Zurich, are exceptions to this rule. The communes, or the branch offices of the Old Age and Survivors’ Insurance (AHV), are also involved in the execution of benefits. Accordingly, they play a role of varying importance, depending on the canton. The confederation exercises internal supervision over the implementation of the benefits and ensures that its subsidies are appropriately deployed. According to the Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO), at the end of 2004, 235,000 people were receiving Supplementary Benefits – this represents 14.6% of all AHV and IV pensioners. In 2004, around 50,000 new requests for Supplementary Benefits were received in all of Switzerland, of which two thirds were approved.