Pension recalculation for working pensioners

Many Ukrainian pensioners continue to work even after they retire. This allows them not only to remain socially active, but also to improve their financial situation. After all, according to the legislation, citizens have the right to recalculate pensions for working pensioners based on length of service.

How is pension recalculation for working pensioners carried out

The procedure for recalculating pensions for working pensioners is determined by Article 42 of the Law of Ukraine “On Compulsory State Pension Insurance”, Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 02/23/2024 No. 185 and Resolution of the Board of the Pension Fund of Ukraine dated 05/18/2018 No. 10–1. In accordance with these regulations, recalculation is carried out automatically every 2 years, provided that the pensioner has additional insurance experience. The calculation is made as of March 1, and the recalculation itself is made from April 1.

How to recalculate pensions for working pensioners? The right to automatic recalculation is granted to pensioners who, after the assignment or previous recalculation of their pension, continued to officially work and pay a single social contribution. It does not matter how long they worked during these 2 years. The main thing is to acquire at least 1 day of additional experience.

The following factors are taken into account in the pension recalculation methodology for working pensioners:

• insurance experience acquired after the appointment or previous pension recalculation;
• salary (income) for periods of insurance experience after the appointment or previous pension recalculation;
• the average salary indicator that was taken into account during the appointment or previous pension recalculation.

If at the time of recalculation, the pensioner has acquired at least 24 months of insurance experience, the earnings for this period are taken into account in the procedure for recalculating pensions for working pensioners. That is, the pension can be recalculated taking into account not only additional experience, but also a higher salary from which a single social contribution was paid.

Recalculation of pensions for working pensioners upon dismissal, when the insurance experience over the last 2 years is less than 24 months, the previous salary is used for the calculation. Then the recalculation takes place 2 years after the appointment or last recalculation of the pension and consists only in taking into account the additional experience. However, at the request of the pensioner and in this situation, the pension can be calculated taking into account earnings for any 60 months of insurance experience in a row until 01.07.2000 and for the entire period of insurance experience after this date.

An important nuance about the recalculation of pensions for working pensioners: if a person has acquired at least 24 months of new experience earlier than 2 years have passed since the appointment or last recalculation of the pension, he has the right to apply to the Pension Fund authorities at any time with an application for recalculation of the pension for working pensioners. In this case, the recalculation is carried out taking into account the salary from which contributions were paid, for the period after the appointment (previous recalculation) of the pension.

The amounts of transferred pensions to working pensioners are paid after the Pension Fund receives reports from employers on the payment of the single social contribution for the 1st quarter of the current year. Usually this happens in June, that is, with a delay of 2–3 months from the date of recalculation. However, pensioners receive an additional payment for the entire period from April 1.

Thus, the system of automatic recalculation of pensions every 2 years allows working pensioners to improve their material security. At the same time, it should be remembered that the amount of the increase is affected not only by the length of additional service, but also by the level of wages. Therefore, whether the recalculation of pensions for working pensioners will be noticeable depends on whether they work officially and receive a decent salary.