Pensions in Ukraine 2023 – when to apply for an appointment, what documents are needed – how to confirm the experience

Despite the war started by Russia, Ukrainians continue to receive pension payments and can apply for a pension. Pensions expert Sergei Korobkin answered popular questions regarding the appointment of pensions during the war, writes “On Pension”.

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When to apply for a pension

He recalled that there are three main types of pensions, and each has its own terms of appointment.

• An old-age pension is assigned from the day following the day when a person reaches retirement age, if the application for a pension occurred no later than three months from the day a person reaches retirement age.
• A disability pension is assigned from the day the disability was established, if the application for a pension took place later than three months from the day the disability was established.
• The pension in connection with the loss of the breadwinner is assigned from the day following the day of the death of the breadwinner, if the application for the appointment of this type of pension was received within 12 months from the day of the death of the breadwinner.

If in all these cases the application for a pension occurs later, then the pension is granted from the date of submission of the relevant application.

Where and how to apply for a pension

You can apply for a pension by submitting an application with documents in person to the Pension Fund (PFU), or online – that is, send documents electronically through the PFU electronic services portal or in the Diya application.

Future military pensioners are helped with the registration of pensions by the TCC – territorial recruitment and social support centers (former military registration and enlistment offices).

Now there is no binding to the place of registration. PFCs work on the so-called extraterritorial principle: if you are registered in one place, but want to use the services of a PFC in another, then this is not a problem – the services are provided in the branch that you have chosen yourself.

What documents are required for the appointment of a pension

Before assigning a pension, first of all, you must provide a passport and an identification code (TIN). These documents show important things that affect retirement. A passport usually certifies identity, age, gender, place of registration. TIN indicates registration in the State Register of Individuals-Taxpayers. Using this code, you can find out information about the payment of insurance premiums and, in fact, about the entire length of service and salary of a person, starting from 2000. Of course, sometimes instead of a passport, a person can only provide a birth certificate or, for example, a permanent residence permit in Ukraine.

Depending on the type of pension, you must additionally provide documents that determine the right to a pension. If this is a regular old-age pension, you need to provide a passport with the year of birth, and documents on the length of service to confirm that it is enough for a pension at 60 years old.

For a disability pension, the MSEC certificate will be decisive.

For a survivor’s pension – a death certificate, documents confirming family relationships (and sometimes cohabitation), documents on the experience and salary of the breadwinner.

If we are talking about early pensions, you must also add documents confirming the right to benefits. For example, a certificate of a participant in hostilities, an identity card that suffered as a result of the Chernobyl disaster, documents on work in hazardous production. In many cases, such documents confirm not only the right to early retirement, but also some supplements to it.

What documents confirm the experience

• Experience after 2004 is confirmed on the basis of the already mentioned identification code. Through it, the payment of insurance premiums is monitored in the so-called personalized accounting system. If a person officially worked and contributions were paid in full, then the length of service will be counted based on the specified data.
• The length of service until January 1, 2004 is counted according to the old rules – on the basis of paper documents. The main document confirming the length of service by the specified date is the work book. In addition, training (on the basis of a diploma), military service (on the basis of a military ID), caring for a child up to three years old (on the basis of a birth certificate) can be counted in the length of service by the specified date.
• To confirm the preferential length of service, it is necessary to provide a certificate of work specifying special working conditions. In some cases, it is also necessary to confirm the certification of workplaces.

If the work book is lost, the length of service until 2004 is confirmed by certificates from work or from the archives. For hopeless cases, confirmation of the usual length of service by witness testimony is provided. Again, this applies to periods prior to 2004. Any length of service after January 1, 2004 is confirmed solely by personalized accounting data.

Do I need to submit payroll documents?

Under current law, it is not necessary to provide a salary certificate. In most cases, the salary for calculating the pension is taken into account automatically for all periods of work, starting from July 1, 2000. This is done on the basis of data on the personalized accounting system, as well as with experience after 2004.

At the request of the pensioner, or when the official length of service after the specified date is less than 5 years, the salary data for 60 consecutive calendar months of work until July 1, 2000 are additionally taken into account for calculation. In this case, you need a paper certificate from the place of work or from the archive. At the same time, it is important that the primary documents on the basis of which it was issued (for example, personal accounts) are preserved so that the PFC has the opportunity to check them.

This year, payments will be recalculated for almost 600,000 working pensioners. This applies to those citizens who, while on a well-deserved rest, continued to acquire insurance experience. They are entitled to an increase in payments every two years after the appointment of a pension or its preliminary recalculation. Read the details in the article by Tatiana Kirilenko “Recalculation of pensions for working pensioners: compensation will be received in May – June” on ZN.UA.