Pension indexation is underway in Ukraine, which started on March 1, and from April 1, the Pension Fund will conduct the traditional automatic recalculation of payments for working pensioners. However, as lawyers explain, in some cases, citizens should not wait for an automatic increase, but apply independently.
According to lawyer Ivan Khomych, the recalculation mechanism is quite simple: The Pension Fund revises the insurance length coefficient. It is the additional length of service that most often becomes the basis for increasing payments.
Recalculation is carried out in two cases. The first is if after the pension was assigned, the person worked for at least 24 months. The second is if two years have passed since the last recalculation, even if the additional length of service is less.
In most cases, the recalculation is carried out automatically, without submitting an application. The Pension Fund already has all the necessary data on length of service and salary.
However, there is an important nuance. As the expert notes, in practice the fund does not always take into account the salary for the last years of work. Most often, the pension increases only due to additional length of service.
That is why, after the recalculation, it is worth checking the documents - in particular, the Pension Fund's order - and making sure that all indicators that could increase payments have been taken into account.
Separately, the lawyer draws attention to situations when it is more profitable to file an application independently. For example, if the right to recalculation arose before the automatic increase takes place. In this case, the pensioner may receive the old amount of payments for several months.
In particular, if the pension was assigned in 2024, the right to recalculation may appear in 2026, but it will be automatically carried out only from 2027. In this case, contacting the Pension Fund will allow you to receive an increase earlier.
The amount of the pension increase depends on individual indicators - insurance experience and, in some cases, salary. The exact percentage of the increase cannot be determined in advance.
At the same time, the recalculation does not apply to some pensioners. These are those who have not yet had two years to receive their pension, as well as recipients of special pensions - military personnel, judges, prosecutors, and other categories.
Lawyers advise that if in doubt, contact specialists or the Pension Fund directly, as incorrect calculations may lead to the loss of part of the payments.
Recall, we previously wrote that People's Deputy Mykhailo Novikov declared a pension of over 1.4 million hryvnias per year, which significantly exceeds the average payments in Ukraine and is due to special accrual conditions for certain categories.
