The Human Rights Commissioner accused the Ministry of Social Policy of failing to pay pensions
7 April 19:44
Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that 169,000 Ukrainians are still without pension payments due to bureaucracy at the Ministry of Social Policy, Family, and Unity. Lubinets wrote about this on social media, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
“169,000 Ukrainians are still without pension payments: bureaucracy at the Ministry of Social Policy instead of real help! Do you know how the Ministry of Social Policy, Family, and Unity responded to my official request in February, which I personally submitted? In response, I received only a report on a ‘successful information campaign,’” Lubinets wrote.
According to him, thousands of Ukrainians have been left without their legal pensions for months due to complex procedures and a lack of coordination between state registries.
“I have repeatedly raised this issue at the relevant Verkhovna Rada Committee and received support from MPs, demanding one thing: state registries must finally ‘communicate’ with one another. There are still no real changes!”
According to the Human Rights Commissioner, delays arise due to the lack of relevant decisions at the government level and within the relevant ministry.
“The most absurd thing is that 70% of the appeals to our office come from IDPs living in government-controlled territory. They are officially registered and listed in the IDP databases, but the Pension Fund ‘does not see’ them until the person personally submits a paper application,” Lubinets wrote.
The Ombudsman noted that he has no complaints against the employees of the Pension Fund.
“The Pension Fund’s official data speaks for itself: at the end of 2025, over 1,033,574 people were receiving pensions, while as of April 1, 2026, only 989,479 were. Over 169,000 citizens were effectively left without pension payments in April. Among them are the elderly, veterans, and people with disabilities… I urge the relatives of those who, for various reasons, were unable to apply in person to help them complete video identification and restore their payments!”
As a reminder:
Pensioners residing in temporarily occupied territories or who have left them for territory controlled by Ukraine or abroad were required to submit a notification to the Pension Fund by April 1 stating that they had not received payments from the Russian Federation; otherwise, pension or insurance payments would be suspended in April.
