Legal aid in action: recalculation of pensions due to court decision

In June 2022, Serhii was forced to flee the hostilities and relocate from Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk region, to the city of Cherkasy. He is a pensioner of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine (MIA) and is entitled to the corresponding benefits and pension provisions. In 2023, he turned to a lawyer for assistance in obtaining his pension, but the court proceedings ended without result.

In September 2024, Serhii sought help from the legal team at the Charitable Foundation "Caritas Mariupol" to request a recalculation of his pension for years of service.

Following the lawyer’s recommendation, he submitted a new application to the Pension Fund of Ukraine, requesting a recalculation of his pension based on the available certificate confirming the amount of monetary allowance for an equivalent position. The Pension Fund denied the recalculation, which was done in violation of the law.

The lawyer then prepared a lawsuit demanding that the court recognize the Pension Fund’s decision as unlawful and oblige it to recalculate the pension starting from November 1, 2019 — the date from which Serhii became entitled to the revised amount.

The court fully satisfied the claim, and the Pension Fund has since complied with the court’s decision and recalculated Serhii’s pension.

The provision of free legal aid to internally displaced persons in the Cherkasy region was made possible through the cooperation of the Charitable Foundation "Caritas Mariupol" with the Danish Refugee Council and funding from the European Union.