Court Orders the Pension Fund to Restore UAH 2,000 Monthly Pension Supplement

The timely and full payment of pension benefits is an inalienable right of Ukrainian citizens, guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine and a number of other legislative acts. Failure by public authorities to fulfill this obligation not only violates the rights of pensioners but also undermines confidence in the judiciary and the rule of law as a whole.

The relevance of this issue is due to the widespread problem of outstanding pension payments in Ukraine. According to the Pension Fund of Ukraine, as of 2024, a significant amount of pension payment arrears remained outstanding. This has a negative impact on the living standards of pensioners, many of whom belong to socially vulnerable groups.

Anatolii Sidak receives a pension for years of service under the Law of Ukraine “On Pension Provision for Persons Discharged from Military Service and Certain Other Persons.” Since 2021, pursuant to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Additional Social Protection of Certain Categories of Persons,” he had been receiving a monthly pension supplement of UAH 2,000.00.

Following a pension recalculation carried out in January 2024 pursuant to a court judgment, in proceedings in which he had also received assistance from the Pension Center, the Pension Fund discontinued the accrual and payment of the above-mentioned monthly supplement.

Anatolii Sidak had previously contacted us regarding the recalculation of his pension and had already experienced the professionalism of our team. Therefore, he once again turned to the Pension Center for qualified legal assistance in restoring the monthly supplement to his pension payments.

Due to these circumstances, an administrative claim was filed with the relevant district administrative court.

The lawyers of the Pension Center relied on the case law of the Supreme Court of Ukraine and the provisions of applicable legislation to substantiate the legal grounds for the claim. This provided the court with sufficient grounds to conclude that the pension recalculation carried out by the Pension Fund pursuant to a court judgment, which was intended to remedy the violation of Anatolii Sidak’s right to the proper amount of the pension granted before 1 March 2018, did not change the components of his monetary allowance or other indicators used to determine the basic amount of his pension. Therefore, such recalculation could not constitute grounds for terminating the monthly pension supplement.

Under these circumstances, the actions of the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Kharkiv Region in refusing to grant and pay the claimant the monthly supplement of UAH 2,000.00 were declared unlawful.

Accordingly, Anatolii Sidak’s administrative claim was granted. The Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Kharkiv Region was ordered to calculate the monthly supplement of UAH 2,000.00 starting from 1 July 2021 and to make the corresponding payments, taking into account the amounts previously paid.