The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has finally formalized the mechanism of raising pensions for people who had had long seniority, but had been receiving low incomes during the entire working period. The decision was announced by Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman during the Government sitting.

"Today we are taking a decision that 2.5 million Ukrainians will receive an increase and their pension will be at least UAH 2,000. Since October 2017 this is the 5th recalculation. We have also succeeded in abolishing the taxation of pensions and removing from the agenda the requirement to increase the pensionable age", said Volodymyr Groysman. "I understand that people undergo hardship. And from the first day of my tenure as the Head of Government, the issue of bringing the pension system to a new level is a daily agenda of mine and my colleagues."

Background

On June 24, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine finalized the decision to raise pensions to citizens who had a long working experience, but small pensions as a result of low salaries. The Prime Minister stressed that raising pensions is the next stage of the pension reform. Volodymyr Groysman accentuated on that back in January 2018 during a working trip to Mariupol.

At that time, after the pensions had been recalculated for more than 10 million seniors, as well as after the decision to raise pensions for military pensioners, the category of retirees with low pensions and long seniority remained the most vulnerable. According to the Head of Government, since July 1, women having over 30 years of seniority and men having over 35 years will receive an increase in pensions. The average pension will make up at least UAH 2,000. This will be another stage in the recalculation of pensions, and aftermath, an increase will be counted automatically.