payment of service pensions has been established in the contested norms due to the same consideration that apply also to old age pensions. The amounts of pensions to be disbursed provided in the Contested norms is, in fact, based on a similar understanding of the legislature of its rights to introduce certain amendments in the regulatory framework for social rights. Consequently, in the frameworks of the case under consideration it is equally possible to assess compliance of the procedures for disbursement of service pensions established in the first part of Section 2 of the Disbursement Law with Article 109 of the Satversme. 22. The Constitutional Court in its judgments has adjudicated the constitutional compliance of specific matters concerning pension disbursements (see, e.g., the Constitutional Court Judgments in the Cases No. 2003-14-01 passed on 4 December 2003 and No. 2006-13-0103 passed on 4 January 2007). In the above judgments the Court has not analysed service pensions in the light of Article 109 of the Constitution. The service pension disbursement amount established in the impugned legal provisions is closely related to the social insurance special budget expenditures. The purposes of old-age and specific service pensions are similar – to compensate the loss of capacity for work. That is, service pensions are intended – when specific conditions set in – for providing the means of subsistence for persons whose work entails the loss of professional skills that may occur already before reaching the old-age pension age. Service pension is an additional social guarantee for persons who have carried out specific functions in the interests of the State in special conditions (cf. Paragraph 7 of the Constitutional Court Judgment in the Case No. 2003-14-01 passed on 4 December 2003). One can conclude from the replies of the Saeima that service pensions disbursed in compliance with the Law on State Pensions are calculated using the same method as for old-age pensions, which have disbursement restrictions. Thus, an identical decrease is established for these service pensions, so that the relevant category of persons would not have a privileged status (see Case materials, vol. 8, p. 87 and p. 97). The substantiation provided by the Saeima for the service pension disbursement amount 32