If You Worked Unofficially for 25 Years: Can You Count on a Pension
Long-term work without official registration can lead to serious difficulties when retiring. Even if a person actually worked for 20–25 years, this period may not be counted when assigning pension payments if the single social contribution (SSC) was not paid for them. In this case, one will have to either continue working officially, buy additional insurance experience, or rely on state social assistance after reaching the appropriate age.
Why 25 years of work does not guarantee a pension
In Ukraine, the right to a pension depends not on the total length of service but on the availability of insurance experience. This refers to the period during which contributions were paid to the compulsory state social insurance system for the employee.
Therefore, even 20–25 years of actual work may not be counted for pension assignment if the person worked unofficially, received salary "under the table," or did not pay contributions to the Pension Fund.
According to current rules, at least 15 years of insurance experience is required to be eligible for a pension.
Who is most at risk of lacking sufficient insurance experience
The problem of unofficial employment remains relevant for many Ukrainians. Often, people find out about the lack of insurance experience only shortly before retirement.
Those at risk include:
- persons of pre-retirement age;
- workers in seasonal industries;
- labor migrants;
- citizens who worked for a long time without official employment.
What to do if there is insufficient insurance experience
If a person has not accumulated the required number of years of insurance experience, they can use several options.
In particular, one can continue to work officially and acquire the necessary experience, voluntarily pay contributions for missing periods, or apply for state social assistance after reaching a certain age.
Social assistance is granted to citizens who have reached 65 years old but have not gained the right to a pension due to the lack of necessary insurance experience and have low income. Its amount is determined considering the family's financial situation and cannot exceed the subsistence minimum for persons who lost their ability to work.
Effectively, such assistance is an alternative to pension provision for people who worked unofficially for years.
Buying additional experience: how much it may cost
One way to gain the right to a pension is voluntary payment of contributions for periods not counted toward insurance experience.
However, after the increase in the minimum wage, the minimum SSC amount has also risen. Because of this, compensating even one year of missing experience can cost tens of thousands of hryvnias.
That is why specialists recommend regularly checking information about your insurance experience and taking care of official employment in advance.
What insurance experience is needed to retire
As of today, to be assigned an old-age pension at 60 years, one must have at least 33 years of insurance experience.
If the required number of years is not available, the right to a pension at 63 years is granted if there is at least 23 years of insurance experience.
If there is insufficient experience at the time of reaching retirement age, a person can apply for a pension later—after acquiring the necessary number of years of insurance experience. Thus, years of work without official registration can significantly affect not only the amount of future payments but also the retirement age.
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