The first appointments of judges to local courts may take place as early as the beginning of 2027: Head of the HQCJ
There is an ongoing personnel shortage in the judicial system and a significant workload on judges, which affects the speed of case consideration.
Andriy Pasichnyk, Head of the HQCJ, reported on the progress of selecting candidates for local court judge positions. According to him, about three thousand practical tasks are currently being reviewed, some of which have already been evaluated, and the results of the review are gradually being published. This stage is planned to be completed in June, after which interviews with candidates are expected to begin at the end of 2026.
He noted that the first appointments to local courts may take place as early as the beginning of next year if the selection schedule is followed.
Regarding appellate courts, the Commission's head informed that competitions in courts with the highest workload — particularly in Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Zhytomyr, and Odesa — have already been completed or are in the final stage. Meanwhile, interviews with candidates for the appellate courts of Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, and Kharkiv are ongoing.
Within these procedures, the Commission is working on gradually renewing the personnel of the appellate instance: some candidates have already received recommendations, while other candidacies are under consideration by the High Council of Justice.
It was also noted that about 700 interviews were conducted during 2025–2026, resulting in nearly 200 candidates receiving recommendations for appointment.
Simultaneously, competitions for the Specialized District Administrative Court and the Specialized Appellate Administrative Court are ongoing. Currently, about 160 practical works of candidates are being reviewed. The next stage involves involving international experts in the work of the Expert Council, which consists of Ukrainian and international members on a parity basis.
After agreeing on procedural issues with international partners, interviews are planned for the fall, and recommendations regarding the competition winners are expected by November.
The shortage of personnel in courts remains one of the main problems. It is likely that 2027 may become a period when the staffing situation begins to gradually improve.
As previously reported by the "Judicial and Legal Newspaper", the High Qualification Commission of Judges, as part of the collegium, conducted interviews and determined the results of the qualification assessment of four candidates for judge positions in the Kyiv Appellate Court.
Earlier, it was reported that the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine published updated data on the remuneration of employees of judicial authorities for April 2026. According to the ministry, the average salary level in the central-level judicial system bodies was 62.05 thousand UAH.
The highest average indicator among all institutions was recorded at the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine — 113.25 thousand UAH. In April, 178 employees received payments at the HQCJ.
Subscribe to our Telegram channel t.me/sudua and to Google News SUD.UA, as well as to our VIBER and WhatsApp, Facebook page Facebook and on Instagram to stay informed about the most important events.
