Salary of a Ukrainian judge: who officially gets the most
13 May 2024 18:15
Recently, the Legal Policy Committee recommended the adoption of a draft law to increase the salaries of civil servants of individual courts in accordance with the regional coefficient. If the draft law is passed, the expenditures will amount to UAH 406.1 million annually.
How much do judges earn now?
According to the “dashboard” published by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the average salaries of court employees vary dramatically – from the lowest, which is UAH 10.6 thousand, to the highest, which is UAH 210.7 thousand per month. To find out how much judges received per month (based on the example of January 2024), read the article by Kommersant Ukrainian 
.
The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is the highest court in the Ukrainian judicial system. In January 2024, a total of 1144 court employees were paid salaries. Traditionally, the highest salary is paid to the management – an average of UAH 145 thousand. This salary was paid to 6 people. That is, almost UAH 900 thousand was spent on salaries of the management in a month.
The management of structural units (125 people) received more than UAH 60 thousand, and 303 employees of the patronage service received UAH 43.2 thousand per person. The Supreme Court employs the largest number of professional staff – in January, 696 specialists received an average salary of UAH 34.4 thousand. The lowest average salary in January was paid to service workers, who received almost UAH 20 thousand.
Despite the high salaries of the management, last year a scandal erupted in the Supreme Court: the then Chief Justice Vsevolod Kniazev received a bribe of almost USD 3 million. Despite the seizure of all his accounts, Knyazev was granted bail and has since been released from jail.
High Council of Justice
The High Council of Justice is a judicial body that submits proposals for the appointment of judges, removal of judges from office and all other issues related to the judiciary.
The average salary of the HCJ leadership is slightly lower than that of the Supreme Court leadership – in January 2024, the 2 leaders received an average of UAH 144.2 thousand each.
In total, 222 employees of the HCJ received salaries in the first month of this year, among whom the 2 heads, respectively, received the highest salaries. The average salary of the heads of structural units (37 people) is 2 times lower – UAH 63 thousand. The High Council of Justice has the largest number of specialists – 162 people who received UAH 42.8 thousand each in January. The only employee of the patronage service received slightly more – UAH 43.3 thousand, as well as UAH 26.6 and 20.1 thousand for service workers and HCJ employees.
High Anti-Corruption Court
This court was established in 2019 as part of the judicial reform. Its main function is to administer justice in criminal proceedings on corruption and related criminal offences, in civil cases on recognition of assets as unjustified and recovery of blocked assets of individuals and legal entities under sanctions. In January 2024, the two heads of this court received the highest salaries in the industry – UAH 210.7 thousand each.
In total, 233 employees of the HACC were paid in January, most of whom are specialists – 106 people. Each of them received an average of UAH 38.1 thousand. Heads of structural units received almost 2 times more – an average of UAH 67.8 thousand in January. In January 2024, employees of the HACC received the least amount of money – UAH 19.1 thousand each.
The High Court of Intellectual Property
Formally, the High Court of Intellectual Property was established by a Presidential Decree on 29 September 2017, but it is still not operational. It was planned that this court would hear cases on the existence of intellectual property (IP) rights, infringement of this right, unfair competition related to the use of IP rights, etc.
This, accordingly, was the basis for the selection of candidates for the positions of judges. Their number was determined: 30 positions, including 9 judges of the Appeals Chamber. However, due to the fact that the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine and the High Council of Justice, which are responsible for ensuring the conduct of competitions for the selection of judges, did not work for a long time, the launch of this court did not take place.
Nevertheless, the court still has employees, or rather, one: Ihor Romankiv. In November 2022, the State Judicial Administration appointed him acting chief of staff of the High Court of Intellectual Property and at the same time chairman of the liquidation commissions of the SCU, HCCU, HACU and HSSU. In 2023, Romankiv received a salary only as the acting chief of staff of the High Court on Intellectual Property. Last year he received over UAH 612 thousand in salary, and in January 2024 – UAH 46.9 thousand.
State Judicial Administration of Ukraine
This state body in the justice system provides organisational and financial support to the judiciary. In January of this year, the State Judicial Administration accrued the largest number of salaries – 462 employees received them in total. The highest salaries were paid to 4 heads – each received an average of UAH 119.3 thousand. The administrative management received slightly less – 3 people received UAH 109.1 thousand each.
in 2024, 184 professional specialists in the State Judicial Administration will receive UAH 35.2 thousand each.
Last year, the State Judicial Administration was in the headlines because the then Head of the SJA, Oleksii Salnykov, was notified of suspicion of inciting bribery of Supreme Court judges for ruling in favour of a commercial enterprise.
In addition, in 2021-2022, the State Audit Service found that 374 judges of local general courts did not administer justice but still received judicial remuneration. It cost the budget more than UAH 430 million.
Among the most famous cases is that of Oleksiy Tandyr, a judge of the Makariv District Court of Kyiv Region, who has been in custody since May last year. But in June-November last year, he received almost UAH 400,000 in judicial remuneration.
In another case, a judge of the Bryansk City Court of Luhansk Oblast received remuneration and accruals totalling UAH 2.4 million since 2021. Moreover, this judge acquired the citizenship of the aggressor country.
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine
The Constitutional Court is a court that ensures the supremacy of the Constitution of Ukraine, decides on the compliance of laws with the Constitution, provides official interpretation of the Constitution of Ukraine, and has other powers.
In total, 294 employees of the Constitutional Court received salaries in January 2024. The highest salary was paid to the management (3 persons), on average UAH 150.1 thousand. The heads of structural units received almost 3 times less – an average of UAH 59.9 thousand. The largest number of specialists work in the court – 91 people, each of them received an average of UAH 34 thousand.
Recently, the Constitutional Court has been actively discussed in social media, and all because of the competition for the selection of candidates for the position of CCU judges. Among the candidates were 2 current members of the Central Election Commission, who did not pass the competition because they did not meet the criterion of high moral qualities.
