Pensions for displaced persons are being reinstated: who will receive payments for two months at once
4 February 01:42
Ukraine is resuming pension payments to internally displaced persons and pensioners from temporarily occupied territories who have undergone physical identification but did not have time to submit an application for non-receipt of pensions from Russian authorities. The Pension Fund has already resumed payments to tens of thousands of people, and some citizens will receive money for two months at once. This was announced by the Minister of Social Policy, Family, and Unity of Ukraine, Denis Ulyutin, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
Additional time and payments for two months
The Ministry of Social Policy acknowledged that the identification procedure was too complicated for many pensioners. Therefore, the state provided additional time to complete all the formalities.
According to Denys Ulyutin, pensioners must submit a statement by April 1 that they do not receive pension payments from the Russian Federation. This will avoid interruptions in the accrual of Ukrainian pensions.
At the same time, citizens who undergo physical identification in February will receive their pensions for two months at once — January and February.
“People will not be left without income during the difficult winter period and will be able to complete all procedures without stress,” the minister emphasized.
How many pensioners have already had their payments resumed
According to the Pension Fund of Ukraine, payments have already been resumed to more than 50,000 people since the beginning of January. Social workers are separately contacting pensioners with disabilities and those who cannot independently use digital services.
The ministry, together with public organizations, is preparing amendments to subordinate legislation to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy during inspections in the future.
“We see where the system has failed, and we are not afraid to admit it. At the same time, verification is necessary to protect pensioners from fraud,” Ulyutin said.
Ombudsman: pensions for displaced persons have been unblocked
Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets also announced a solution to the problem. According to him, pension payments were blocked for nearly 370,000 internally displaced persons.
The ombudsman said that his team had appealed to the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine with a request to change the identification procedure. After public publicity, payments began to be restored.
“The ministry claimed that there was no problem. But after people appealed and I made my demand, the pensions of internally displaced persons were unblocked. Now I am waiting for an official document,” Lubinets said.
Why did the problem with IDP pensions arise?
The reason for the mass disruptions was a new requirement: in order to receive a Ukrainian pension, displaced persons had to confirm that they were not receiving payments from the Russian occupation authorities. To do this, they were asked to use “Dія.Підпис” on the Pension Fund website.
According to the ombudsman, about 1.3 million people encountered difficulties during verification. Many elderly people do not have smartphones or cannot create an electronic signature on their own. As a result, pensioners only learned about the new requirements after payments were suspended, which caused queues and panic at the Pension Fund offices.
