Recalculation of pensions for Chernobyl disabled persons

Recalculation of pensions for disabled people of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is a complex issue in the legal plane, since the legislation has changed, and restrictions have been established regarding the size of pensions that were relevant before. Accordingly, pensioners often have questions about whether it is possible to return the previous pension amount. If you are interested in a consultation on calculating a pension and legal support on this matter, you have come to the right place, because the lawyers of the “Prikhodko & Partners” law firm know how to solve such a problem. In the meantime, we suggest that you familiarize yourself in more detail with the transformations of legislation and their impact on the regulation of pension provision for Chernobyl victims.

What should you know about legislative changes?

The provisions of Part Four of Article 54 of Law № 796-XII as amended by Law № 230/96-VR, which was in effect until amendments were made by the Law of Ukraine of December 28, 2014 № 76-VIII “On Amendments and Recognition of Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine as Invalid”, provided for pension amounts for this category of pensioners. They were fixed at the following level:

• in case of the 1st disability group – 10 minimum old-age pensions;
• in case of the 2nd group – 8 minimum pensions;
• in case of the 3rd group – 6 minimum pensions;
• for disabled children – 3 minimum pensions.

However, in 2021, the legislation changed. Therefore, it was established that now pensions for the 1st group of disability cannot be lower than 6 thousand hryvnia, for the 2nd group – 4800 hryvnia, for the 3rd group and children with disabilities – 3700 hryvnia.

As for the former liquidators of the Chernobyl accident, whose disability is a consequence of this catastrophe, the minimum pension for them is tied to the average salary. Thus, in the case of disability group I, the pension will be 100% of the average salary. If we are talking about disability group II, this figure will be no less than 80%, and for group II, the pension is provided for at least 60% of the average salary.

It should also be known that the pension amounts defined by Article 54, starting from 2022, are indexed annually from March 1 in the manner established by the Cabinet of Ministers. In this case, the increase coefficient is taken into account, which is determined in accordance with Article 42 of the Law “On Compulsory State Pension Insurance”.

Even though the pension may include other allowances, its amount will still not be adequate.

What is the position of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine?

On April 3, 2024, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine declared the above changes unconstitutional. On the one hand, this decision is quite encouraging for Chernobyl pensioners. However, on the other hand, the difficulty in implementing it is that the decision must come into force 3 months after martial law ends in Ukraine. Given the current geopolitical uncertainty, many pensioners have a fair question about when they will be able to receive the pension that is actually provided for them in accordance with the norms of current legislation.

As the latest practice of the Supreme Court shows, there are real legal instruments that allow you to return to the previous amount of the minimum pension, which is equal to 6-10 minimum old-age pensions, depending on the pensioner’s disability group.

How do we work?

When you contact the lawyers of the “Prikhodko & Partners” law firm with such requests from the field of pension law, we work as follows:

1. First, we conduct an initial consultation and carefully consider the circumstances of your case. In order to take on the case support, you first need to analyze in detail all the prospects in it. This is the basis of our transparent and honest approach, where the client clearly understands the presence of real opportunities for recalculating the pension upward.
2. The next stage is support. It consists of requesting documents to prepare an evidence base, drawing up a claim and submitting it to the court.
3. When there is already a positive court decision on hand, it is mandatory for execution throughout the territory of Ukraine. However, authorized representatives of the Pension Fund often artificially delay the execution of the court decision. In this case, we send them attorney requests regarding this execution. This means of influence allows you to speed up all the necessary actions that must be performed in the legal plane.

So, we accompany your case at all its stages and make every effort to ensure the desired result.

Despite the complication in the implementation of the constitutional right to an adequate pension for Chernobyl disabled persons, there are legal levers to influence the situation in the legal field. This is evidenced not only by the relevant decision of the Constitutional Court, but also by the practice of the Supreme Court.

Therefore, if you are looking for professional legal support, you can get it by contacting the specialists of our law firm. Fill out the feedback form, after which a lawyer specializing in pension law will call you back for an initial consultation.