A large-scale pension reform is being prepared in Ukraine.
In 2025, the conditions for retirement in Ukraine will change and the largest special pensions will be limited.
Read more in the material on TSN.ua
Accumulative pension
According to the requirements of international partners, in particular, the IMF, a new pension reform is being developed in Ukraine.
It will provide for a mandatory deduction of 9% of salaries for funded pensions. This was reported during a press conference on January 27 by the Minister of Social Policy Oksana Zholnovich.
The point is that such deductions from salary in the future will allow a person to receive 20% of their average salary during their lifetime in retirement. The remaining 20% will go from the solidarity system. In total, this will give a replacement rate of 40%.
According to Zholnovich, a person can also voluntarily deduct a larger percentage of salary to the funded pension.
The official also said that the decision on pension reform and the introduction of funded pensions could be made in 2025, and the system itself could start working from 2026.
New conditions for retirement
New conditions for retirement by age came into force in Ukraine in January 2025.
Thus, according to the law “On compulsory state pension insurance”, 32 years of service are required to retire at 60 years.
This year, those who turned 18 in 2025 have the right to be assigned an old-age pension:
- 60 years – with at least 32 years of insurance experience;
- 63 years – with at least 22 years of insurance experience;
- 65 years – with at least 15 years of insurance experience.
Those with less than 15 years of experience will be assigned state social assistance at 65, rather than a pension.
Ukrainian legislation provides the opportunity to buy additional missing work experience. The cost of one month is 44% of the minimum wage, which is 3.5 thousand hryvnia. For example, if you have 30 years of work experience, then you need to pay an additional 42.2 thousand hryvnia for the missing year.
Military service and preferential pension
In Ukraine, citizens working in hazardous industries have the right to early retirement under certain conditions. This applies, in particular, to metallurgists and miners, if they have accumulated sufficient work experience, writes NV.
According to the Law of Ukraine on social and legal protection of military personnel, the period of military service during the special period declared in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Defense of Ukraine” may be counted towards the length of service that gives the right to a preferential pension.
This applies to persons who, at the time of conscription, worked under conditions that give the right to a pension on preferential terms. However, the period of military service may not exceed the length of service that gives the right to such a pension.
To confirm preferential work experience, it is necessary to provide a certificate of preferential nature of work, which is issued by the enterprise. If the enterprise is located in a combat zone or temporarily occupied territory, the data can be confirmed through the register of insured persons of the State Register of Compulsory State Social Insurance.
Also, according to the provisions of the Law of Ukraine No. 1058-IV, the right to a pension on preferential terms is enjoyed by workers working underground or in conditions that are especially harmful and difficult, according to the lists approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
For men, the minimum length of service for a preferential pension is 25 years, of which 10 years must be in the specified jobs. For women, this length of service is 20 years, of which at least 7.5 years must be in preferential jobs.
In the case of work in less harmful, but still difficult conditions, the preferential length of service for men must be at least 30 years, for women – 25 years.
Additions and additional payments
Unemployed Chernobyl pensioners who lived in the mandatory and voluntary resettlement zones during 1986-1993 will be able to receive an additional payment of 2.3 thousand hryvnia, said Tatyana Koval, head of the Pension Provision Department in Cherkasy Oblast.
According to the official, the payment is intended for the period of martial law
The additional money is not intended for citizens who left the resettlement zones or changed their place of residence from April 26, 1986 to January 1, 1993.
In turn, Ukrainian pensioners with insurance experience exceeding the required minimum can count on additional payments. In 2025, these rules remain in force and are regulated by relevant regulations.
The additional payment is 1% of the basic pension for each year of overtime experience. For this, the subsistence minimum established by law is taken into account. 2025, the subsistence minimum will remain at the level of 2361 hryvnia.
Therefore, each year of overtime experience will add 23.61 hryvnia to the pension (2361 × 1%). The maximum additional payment for 30 years of overtime experience will be 708 hryvnia.
Also, Ukrainians who have reached 70 years of age have the right to receive an increase in their old-age pension.
The age increase in pension is:
- after reaching 70 years – 300 hryvnia,
- after reaching 75 years – 456 hryvnia,
- after reaching 80 years – 570 hryvnia.
The increase in pension is calculated automatically based on information from the pension fund. You do not need to submit an application for this. However, the increase is only provided for those whose pension does not exceed 10.3 thousand hryvnia.
It is also noted that the increase will be accrued for the first time in the month following the month in which a certain age is reached, and its size will be proportional to the number of days after the pensioner's birthday for the first time.
Who can have their payments frozen
Freezing pensions due to violation of certain rules can be avoided if you provide reliable, up-to-date information about yourself in a timely manner.
So pensioners may be left without payments if:
- the pension was assigned on the basis of documents containing false information;
- the pensioner moved abroad;
- upon the pensioner’s application to terminate the pension payment due to temporary residence abroad;
- in the event of the pensioner’s death, recognition of him/her as missing or declaration of death in accordance with the procedure established by law;
- the pension was not received for six consecutive months;
- the pensioner did not undergo the physical identification procedure;
- in other cases provided for by law.
Who will have their payments reduced
In Ukraine, the largest special pensions will be limited in 2025. This innovation will affect more than 17 thousand pensioners. It will be in effect for the period of martial law in 2025, the Ministry of Social Policy reported.
“The law on the state budget approved the norm on the application of 2025 restrictive coefficients to pensions that are four or more times higher than the average pension in the country, or 10 subsistence minimums for disabled persons,” the ministry explained.
The department emphasizes that the system is currently unfair and non-transparent due to the imbalances that have accumulated in the pension system. That is why the restrictions will affect payments that can now amount to 60, 80, 100 thousand hryvnia or even higher.
“The restrictive coefficients will reduce the huge difference between the so-called “special” and general pensions. According to the resolution, reducing coefficients will be applied to pensions exceeding 10 subsistence minimums, including the amount determined by court decisions,” the ministry reported.
They added that the higher the pension, the higher the coefficient will be applied:
The Ministry of Social Policy notes: restrictions will not be applied to the pensions of people who are currently fighting at the front or participated in the defense of the Motherland from the Russian aggression in 2014.
Payment of disability pensions
Prime Minister Denis Shmygalannounced that from July 1, 2025, a pension system reform will begin in Ukraine, providing for changes in the procedure for calculating and paying disability pensions.
No significant changes in the pension payment system are expected before the reform from January 1, 2025. Current requirements for receiving a disability pension include at least one year of work experience. Disability payments depend on the length of service and disability group: for group 1 – 100% of the old-age pension, for group 2 – 90%. The current amounts of minimum social disability pensions are:
- Group 1 – 2.7 thousand hryvnia;
- Group 2 – 2.5 thousand hryvnia;
- Group 3 – 2.09 thousand hryvnia.
However, after the reform is implemented, these payments may be changed or canceled if a new social protection system for people with disabilities is not created.
Earlier, we wrote that the Ministry of Social Policy prepared a draft budget for the Pension Fund for 2025. Pension indexation is planned to be carried out with a coefficient of 1.10.
