Military pensioner to have pension recalculated from 2019: court recognized the refusal of the Pension Fund of Ukraine as illegal

The Zhytomyr District Administrative Court considered a dispute between a pensioner and the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in Zhytomyr region regarding the refusal to recalculate the pension based on an updated certificate of monetary allowance.

The court examined the legality of the pension authority's refusal to take into account additional types of monetary allowance when recalculating the pension assigned in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On Pension Provision for Persons Released from Military Service and Some Other Persons."

Case circumstances

The plaintiff is registered with the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in Zhytomyr region and receives a pension under Law No. 2262-XII. In June 2025, the authorized body prepared and sent to the Pension Fund a certificate of the amount of monetary allowance as of March 5, 2019. The certificate included not only the official salary, military rank salary, and length-of-service allowance but also additional components of the monetary allowance.

After receiving this certificate, the pensioner applied for a pension recalculation. However, the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in Zhytomyr region refused to carry out the recalculation, citing the absence of legal grounds. In its response to the claim, the defendant stated that the certificate of monetary allowance issued in 2018 is valid, not revoked by the issuing authority, and therefore its figures should be used during the pension recalculation.

Disagreeing with the refusal, the plaintiff turned to the court demanding to recognize the pension authority's actions as unlawful and to oblige the recalculation of the pension from April 1, 2019, based on the updated certificate of monetary allowance.

Court's position and conclusions

The court noted that legal relations in the field of pension provision for servicemen are regulated by Law No. 2262-XII, and the procedure for pension recalculation is defined by the Procedure approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution No. 45.

At the same time, the court drew attention to the decision of the Kyiv City District Administrative Court dated December 12, 2018, in case No. 826/3858/18, which came into legal force on March 5, 2019, after appellate review, recognizing as unlawful and invalid paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution No. 103, as well as amendments to paragraph 5 and appendix 2 of Procedure No. 45. These amendments excluded from the form of the certificate for pension recalculation the monthly additional types of monetary allowance, including bonuses, supplements, and increases.

The court emphasized that from March 5, 2019, the version of appendix 2 to Procedure No. 45 that was in effect before the amendments by Resolution No. 103 should be applied. Therefore, from this date, grounds arose for recalculating pensions taking into account not only the official salary, military rank salary, and length-of-service allowance but also additional types of monetary allowance.

The court also noted that the basis for pension recalculation can be either a decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine or the submission by the pensioner of additional documents confirming the right to a pension increase. A similar legal position was expressed by the Supreme Court in its ruling dated October 10, 2019, in case No. 553/3619/16-a.

Since the authorized body issued and sent to the Pension Fund an updated certificate of monetary allowance including all proper components, and the legal grounds for such recalculation existed from March 5, 2019, the court concluded that the Pension Fund's refusal to conduct the recalculation is unlawful.

The court stressed that according to Article 51 of Law No. 2262-XII, the pension recalculation must be carried out from the first day of the month following the month in which circumstances affecting the change in its amount arose. In this case, that moment is the entry into force of the decision in case No. 826/3858/18, so the recalculation must be made from April 1, 2019.

As a result of the case No. 240/7994/26, the court recognized the actions of the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in Zhytomyr region regarding the refusal to recalculate the pension based on the certificate of monetary allowance dated June 2, 2025, as unlawful and obliged to carry out the recalculation and payment of the pension from April 1, 2019, taking into account all components of the monetary allowance and payments already made.

At the same time, the court denied the claims for payments without limitation of the maximum pension amount and for recovery of the difference between the actually paid and due amounts, indicating that such claims are premature since at the time of the case consideration the recalculation had not yet been made and there are no grounds to believe that the plaintiff's rights will be violated after its completion.

Thus, the claim was partially satisfied.

The court's decision may be appealed by filing an appeal directly to the Seventh Administrative Court of Appeal.

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