Pension is subject to further indexation even after its recalculation by court decision — how a pensioner defended her rights

The Mykolaiv District Administrative Court considered a dispute between a pensioner and the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Mykolaiv region regarding the pension indexation and the application of coefficients for increasing the average wage indicator during its recalculation. The court examined the legality of the Pension Fund's refusal to conduct further pension indexation after executing a previous court decision on its recalculation.

Case circumstances

The plaintiff is registered with the Pension Fund authorities and has been receiving an old-age pension since August 2021, assigned in accordance with the Law "On Compulsory State Pension Insurance." When the pension was assigned, the average wage indicator in Ukraine for 2018–2020 was applied in the amount of UAH 9,118.81.

In 2025, another decision by the Mykolaiv District Administrative Court recognized the Pension Fund's inaction regarding the non-indexation of the pension for 2022–2024 as unlawful. The court then obliged the Pension Fund to recalculate the pension using the indexation coefficients established by government resolutions for 2022, 2023, and 2024. In compliance with this decision, the pension authority recalculated and determined the average wage indicator for pension calculation at UAH 13,433.83.

After that, the Pension Fund did not carry out pension indexation from March 1, 2025, and from March 1, 2026. In response to the pensioner's inquiry, the Pension Fund stated there were no grounds for such recalculation. The defendant's position was that the average wage indicator determined under the previous court decision was higher than the indicators that could be applied according to government resolutions on indexation for 2025 and 2026, and therefore, no additional recalculation would be conducted.

Disagreeing with this position, the pensioner filed a new lawsuit. She requested to recognize the Pension Fund's inaction regarding the non-indexation as unlawful and to oblige it to carry out the appropriate pension recalculation using the coefficients defined by government resolutions for 2025 and 2026.

Court decision

The court noted that according to part two of Article 42 of the Law "On Compulsory State Pension Insurance," to ensure pension indexation, a recalculation of previously assigned pensions is carried out annually from March 1 by increasing the average wage indicator used for their calculation. The procedure for such recalculation is defined by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 124 dated February 20, 2019.

The court pointed out that when the pension was assigned in 2021, the average wage indicator for 2018–2020 of UAH 9,118.81 was used for its calculation. According to the court, this indicator is subject to further indexation through the sequential application of increase coefficients established by law.

The court emphasized that executing the previous court decision and increasing this indicator to UAH 13,433.83 does not deprive the pensioner of the right to further indexation in 2025 and 2026 according to new government resolutions. Therefore, the Pension Fund's refusal to conduct such recalculation is unlawful.

At the same time, the court refused to agree with the demands to apply the general indexation coefficients of 1.115 and 1.121 provided by the Cabinet of Ministers' resolutions for 2025 and 2026. The court indicated that these resolutions contain special rules for certain categories of pensioners to reduce disparities in pension amounts assigned in different years. For persons whose pensions were assigned in 2021, special coefficients of 1.0575 and 1.061 apply. These coefficients should be used during the pension indexation of the plaintiff.

The court also rejected the demand to make payments without applying the special procedure for financing pension payments in execution of court decisions, approved by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 821 dated July 14, 2025. The court noted that at the time of the case consideration, there was no evidence of violation of the plaintiff's rights in this regard, so such demands are premature.

As a result of case No. 400/3335/26, the court partially satisfied the claim. It recognized the inaction of the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Mykolaiv region regarding the non-indexation of the pension as unlawful and obliged it to recalculate by sequentially applying coefficients 1.14, 1.197, 1.0796, 1.0575, and 1.061 to the average wage indicator for 2018–2020 of UAH 9,118.81, as well as to make corresponding payments considering already paid amounts.

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