How to Increase Your Pension: Recalculation and Additional Benefits

How to Increase Your Pension? Alternative Pension Recalculation

When is it advisable to seek legal assistance with pension matters? Below are some of the most common situations:

• you have previously contacted the Pension Fund but did not receive a clear or well-reasoned response to your request;
• you have not yet contacted the Pension Fund but would like to prepare a formal request to better understand your pension rights and obligations;
• you are already registered with the Pension Fund and want to find out how to increase the amount of your pension. You may also need legal clarification on a specific issue. For example, you may wish to transfer your pension file to another Pension Fund office, prepare an application or request, better understand the pension procedure, receive your pension before moving abroad, or resolve many other pension-related matters.

Whatever pension-related issue you are facing, our legal team is ready to assist you. Timely and professional legal advice can save you significant time, effort, and unnecessary stress.

What do we recommend? We will carefully review your individual situation, analyze your current pension payments, and assess the available legal options to determine whether your pension can be increased.

Option One: Pension Recalculation Based on Insurance Record and Salary.

If, after your pension was originally granted or last recalculated, you have accumulated at least 24 additional months of insurance record (employment history), you are entitled to apply for another pension recalculation. Such recalculation may take into account both the additional insurance record acquired after the previous calculation and the salary that was used when your pension was initially granted or last recalculated.

In such cases, the Pension Fund is required to apply the recalculation method that is most beneficial to the pensioner. Depending on your individual circumstances, this may include recalculation based on both your insurance record and salary (adding the additional employment period accumulated over the last two years) or recalculation based solely on the additional insurance record. In some situations, taking recent salary data into account may actually reduce the salary coefficient used for calculating the pension, making that option less advantageous.

Option Two: Alternative Pension Recalculation (Based on New Salary Records).

When calculating a pension in Ukraine, the Pension Fund generally takes into account the salary (income) earned throughout the insured employment period beginning on 1 July 2000. However, pensioners may also submit documentary evidence confirming their salary earned before that date.

If your insurance record accumulated since 1 July 2000 is less than 60 months, or if using salary data from an earlier period is more beneficial, your pension may be recalculated based on salary earned during any consecutive 60 calendar months of employment before 30 June 2000, regardless of breaks in employment, provided that the salary is confirmed by the required supporting documents.

For example, if you earned a significantly higher salary before 2000, you may be entitled to increase your pension through an alternative recalculation based on those earnings.

What is required? You must obtain documentary evidence of your salary and submit an application to the Pension Fund office where your pension file is maintained.

To avoid unnecessary difficulties and ensure that the recalculation is carried out correctly, our legal team can provide comprehensive assistance, including:

• obtaining the required employment and salary records from your former employer, including situations where the enterprise has been liquidated or reorganized;
• calculating the expected pension amount based on the newly submitted salary information;
• preparing a detailed written legal opinion regarding the proposed pension recalculation and its expected outcome.

Option Three: Switching to Another Type of Pension.

Ukrainian pension legislation allows individuals to switch from one type of pension to another when they become eligible for a more advantageous pension benefit.

This option is particularly relevant for individuals receiving a disability pension who have subsequently reached retirement age and qualify for an old-age pension. Likewise, a person receiving an old-age pension may become entitled to a survivor's pension following the death of a spouse or another qualifying family member.

When transferring from one type of pension to another, it is essential to ensure that the Pension Fund applies the correct average national salary indicator for the calendar year preceding the transfer. An incorrect calculation may significantly reduce the pension amount, making legal review especially important before submitting the application.

Special attention should also be paid to pension supplements, allowances, compensatory payments, and other additional benefits that may significantly increase the overall pension amount. To qualify for these benefits, the Pension Fund may require supporting documentation confirming the applicant's legal status or eligibility.

Depending on your individual circumstances, the following documents may be required:

• documents confirming that the pensioner supports dependent family members who are unable to work;
• documents confirming the status of a war veteran or a person covered by the Law of Ukraine "On the Status of War Veterans and Guarantees of Their Social Protection," as well as documents confirming special merits before the State;
• documents confirming rehabilitation status or the status of a family member of a rehabilitated person who was forcibly resettled;
• documents confirming residence, employment, or education in a settlement with official mountain area status, where additional pension benefits may apply;
• documents confirming participation in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster or recognition as a person affected by the Chornobyl catastrophe;
• an expert medical opinion establishing a causal connection between a person's death and participation in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chornobyl disaster;
• documents confirming the award of the honorary title "Honorary Donor of Ukraine" or "Honorary Donor of the USSR", which may entitle the holder to additional pension payments;
• a medical advisory commission's conclusion confirming the need for permanent personal care, where such care gives rise to an additional pension allowance;
• documents confirming the status of a victim of Nazi persecution or the surviving spouse of a deceased victim of Nazi persecution, where such status provides entitlement to increased pension benefits or lifelong monthly financial support;
• documents confirming the taxpayer identification number of dependent family members who are unable to work, where required for granting family-related pension supplements.

Determining eligibility for additional pension payments often requires a detailed legal analysis of your personal circumstances and supporting documentation. Many pensioners are unaware that they already qualify for higher pension benefits under Ukrainian law.

Our attorneys carefully review each client's pension file, identify every available legal basis for increasing pension payments, prepare the necessary applications and supporting documents, represent clients before the Pension Fund of Ukraine, and, where necessary, protect pension rights through court proceedings.

How much do our legal services cost? Click here to learn more.