An audit by the Court of Accounts revealed serious issues in the activity of the National Public Pensions House (CNPP). The recalculation of pensions based on the new law was done in some cases with incorrect scores, and the computer system did not take all the necessary data.
Auditors identified 574,060 cases where an annual score higher than due would have been granted and suspicions regarding a lower score for 2,211,060 beneficiaries, as shown in a report by the Court of Accounts, consulted by Antena3. In total, nearly 2.8 million cases could be affected by calculation errors.
The audit took place from August 18, 2025, to February 27, 2026, and auditors found „deficiencies with significant and generalized influences” in the financial situations of the institution.
The 2.2 million files were not individually verified. Possible errors were signaled in their case, and the total value of the differences was estimated based on a controlled sample by auditors.
### Some pensioners received too little, others too much
The problems arose during the recalculation based on Law no. 360/2023. According to auditors, the computer system used by CNPP „does not function optimally,” and some of the information existing before the recalculation was not fully taken over.
Another issue was the calculation of stability points. The computer system could not correctly separate the contributory stage used to open the pension entitlement from that taken into account for granting these points. Certain periods worked under special or particular conditions were incorrectly included or excluded.
The Court of Accounts estimates that **granting higher scores than due led to additional expenses of over 71.1 million lei**.
Conversely, **pensions calculated using lower scores would have been undervalued by approximately 230.4 million lei**.
Auditors selected, from the category of the 2.2 million beneficiaries for whom there were suspicions, a sample of 22 cases. In nine of these, pensions had been set at a lower level than the legal one, with a total difference of 2,147 lei.
**Errors were also found in disability pensions. Payments would have been overvalued by nearly three million lei and undervalued by approximately 22.1 million lei**.
For rights established before the new law’s application, auditors estimated a much larger undervaluation, of around 311.7 million lei, for old-age limit pensions.
### Pensions paid after the beneficiaries’ death
Checking CNPP’s databases against records of deceased persons showed that **some pensions continued to be paid for more than three months after the beneficiaries’ death**.
In these cases, no decisions had been issued to recover the money, and no deductions had been made from the payment. The estimated value of the improperly paid amounts is 548,821 lei.
The report does not specify how many deceased beneficiaries were identified in this situation.
### Issues also with survivor pensions
Territorial offices continued to pay survivor pensions to beneficiaries who no longer met the legal conditions. Some of them earned income for which social security was mandatory, in which case the pension payment should have been suspended. In other cases, beneficiaries did not prove that they were continuing their studies or were listed as deregistered in the Integrated Educational Register.
The Court of Accounts estimates that approximately 510,900 lei were improperly paid in this way.
At the same time, there were survivor pensions set at a lower level than owed.
### Illegal bonuses and tax advantages
Irregularities were not limited to pension payments. Auditors found salary expenses made without respecting the law.
Among these were the payment of around 119,400 lei for an office chief position that should have been abolished and the granting of confidentiality bonuses, estimated at over 140,000 lei, which were not provided for by budget salary legislation.
Some pension offices also granted tax advantages to employees whose duties did not involve creating software programs. The estimated unrecovered taxes and social contributions amounted to nearly 457,000 lei.
Salary increases granted to employees performing financial preventive control were also miscalculated. By extrapolation, the Court of Accounts estimates that CNPP and its subordinate institutions would have improperly paid around 333,000 lei.
### Funds from the Current Expenses Reserve Fund
The report also criticizes the repeated use of the Government’s Budget Reserve Fund to pay public pension system rights, despite this fund being intended for urgent or unforeseen expenses.
CNPP received 196 million lei from the Reserve Fund in 2022, over 657 million lei in 2023, and 1.6 billion lei in 2024.
Auditors warn that requesting money at the end of each year has become a practice and raises questions, especially since the social security budget is approved by Parliament through law.
The Court of Accounts has asked CNPP to verify and correct incorrectly calculated pensions, recover improper payments, and remedy the deficiencies in the computer system. The deadline for implementing the measures is December 31, 2026.