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Publication date: 08.05.2024
Peculiarities of assigning pensions under martial law
According to the current legislation of Ukraine, various types of pensions are provided:
· old age pension;
· disability pension;
· survivor's pension; retirement pension, as well as other special pensions.
Each of these types of pensions provides certain requirements for a person's age, length of work experience, special status, in the presence of which a person can apply to the Pension Fund of Ukraine for a pension.
The most common among citizens is the old-age pension according to the Law of Ukraine dated July 9, 2003 No. 1058-IV "On mandatory state pension insurance" (hereinafter - Law No. 1058). Women and men have the right to such a pension after reaching the relevant retirement age - 60 years and provided they have the necessary insurance experience. The last indicator increases every year, and if in 2022 the minimum required insurance experience was 29 years, in 2023 – 30, then in 2024 – 31. At the same time, some categories of citizens have the right to retire by age earlier, before they reach 60 years conditions of having the required insurance experience.
In accordance with Law No. 1058, which regulates the assignment of old-age pensions, an application for the assignment of a pension can be made at any time after the right to a pension has arisen or no earlier than one month before reaching retirement age.
At the same time, the old-age pension is granted from the day following the date of reaching the retirement age, if the application for a pension took place no later than three months after the person reached the retirement age.Regulatory and legal acts that improve the pension provision of citizens
In the conditions of martial law, some normative legal acts were adopted that improve the pension provision of citizens, for example, the Law of Ukraine of March 20, 2023 No. 2981-IX "On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On General Mandatory State Pension Insurance" was adopted awarding a pension to persons living in the temporarily occupied territory or in the territory where hostilities are being conducted", which amended Law No. 1058 in the part relating to the awarding of pensions to persons living in the temporarily occupied territory or in the territory where hostilities are being conducted hostilities (entered into force on 04/15/2023).
Thus, the specified changes provide that the specified persons, temporarily, during the period of martial law in Ukraine and within three months after its termination or cancellation, are granted a pension, regardless of the date of application.
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That is, if a person applied for an old-age pension after six months, a year or even more, such a person will be granted a pension from the day after reaching retirement age.
Therefore, at the legislative level, taking into account the realities of today, we see that the issue of granting pensions to persons living in temporarily occupied territories or in places of hostilities has been settled due to the fact that such citizens cannot normally apply to the Pension Fund authorities for registration of pension.
The specified changes in the legislation definitely contribute to ensuring that citizens realize their right to pension in conditions of martial law.
It is worth noting that with the introduction of martial law in Ukraine, the principle of extraterritoriality in the processing of pension applications, introduced since April 1, 2021 and applied by the PFU authorities, played a leading role in the social life of society.
The introduced technology provides that a person can apply for a pension assignment (recalculation) to any territorial body of the Pension Fund of Ukraine, regardless of the person's place of residence. That is, the existing technology made it possible for people who were forced to leave the territories where hostilities are taking place or the territories temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation to resolve the issue of the appointment and payment of pensions in any territorial body of the Pension Fund on the territory controlled by Ukraine. The principle of extraterritoriality had a very positive effect on the situation with the assignment of pensions in wartime conditions.
In the same way, many issues in the field of pension provision and, in particular, in matters of pension allocation, were solved through the PFU electronic services web portal, which even more citizens began to use under martial law. That is, people who have gone abroad have the opportunity to apply for pensions through the PFU web portal.
