Due to long-term treatment abroad, the displaced woman will not receive the cancellation of IDP payments

Publication date: August 26, 2023

A successful case from the practice of the NGO “Public Legal Aid Service” is a step-by-step algorithm that is relevant today for displaced persons who are entitled to the extension of IDP aid payments from August of this year*. At the same time, the clarification provided in the material will be useful to lawyers who provide legal assistance to internally displaced persons.

Valeriia, a displaced person from the Luhansk oblast, remotely contacted the NGO “Public Legal Aid Service” with the question: will she have the right to receive benefits as an IDP after the changes in the legislation?

• At the time of the appeal, the woman had already been receiving treatment in Germany for three months, although she permanently lives in Dnipro, where she receives benefits as an internally displaced person, – explains the organization’s lawyer Oleksii Kormiletskyi.

The lawyer reminds that the norms established by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 07/11/2023 No. 709 “Some Issues of Support for Internally Displaced Persons”, which relate to the termination and non-continuation of living allowance payments to certain categories of internally displaced persons, entered into force on 08/01/2023.

In this document, the lawyer identified the main reasons for the termination of the benefit payment, which he informed the client about:

• an internally displaced person has been abroad for more than 30 calendar days in a row (the 30-day period of stay abroad does not include days of business trip, rehabilitation of children, internship, treatment, or rehabilitation, which is confirmed by relevant documents, in particular at the invitation of the host party, as well as days of stay abroad for such reasons as the death of a person’s family members and relatives, care for a sick child under the age of 18, stay in health care facilities, judicial and law enforcement agencies, in connection with which the person is not of his own free will could not return from abroad and can document such circumstances);
• an internally displaced person returned to the abandoned place of residence in the territory of hostilities or temporary occupation;
• an internally displaced person purchased a vehicle (mechanism) subject to registration in accordance with the procedure established by law, less than five years have passed since the year of production (except for a moped or trailer);
• an internally displaced person purchased a plot of land, an apartment (house) (except housing received or purchased at the expense of the state or local budget), other real estate, securities and other financial instruments, virtual assets for an amount exceeding UAH 100,000 , other durable goods (except construction materials, if the person’s home is damaged/destroyed, and cars) or paid (one time) any works or services (except construction, if the person’s home is damaged/destroyed, medical, educational and housing communal services in accordance with the social norm of housing);
• an internally displaced person has funds in a deposit bank account(s) in a total amount exceeding UAH 100,000;
• an internally displaced person has bonds of the internal state loan, the maturity of which has arrived or was determined at the time of the claim, for a total amount exceeding UAH 100,000;
• an internally displaced person carried out transactions for the purchase of non-cash and/or cash foreign currency (except for currency received from charitable organizations or purchased to pay for medical (including rehabilitation, prosthetics) social and/or educational services), as well as bank metals for the total amount, which exceeds UAH 100,000;
• an internally displaced person owns a residential premises/part of a residential premises located in territories where hostilities are not taking place and is not under occupation (except for residential premises that are unfit for habitation, damaged and destroyed as a result of hostilities, acts of terrorism, sabotage caused by military aggression of the russian federation against Ukraine, or residential premises of a part of which with an area of less than 13.65 square meters per one family member);
• a person is serving a sentence in places of deprivation of liberty;
• a person was convicted of committing a criminal offense provided for by Articles 109, 110, 111 or parts three to eight of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, or declared wanted.

Given these changes, Valeriia was at risk of getting her IDP payment canceled because she had been abroad for more than three months.

– In order for the payment not to be canceled, the woman had to submit documents confirming her treatment in Germany to the local social security office. The need for treatment abroad is certified by the form of primary accounting documentation No. 027/о “Extract from the medical record of an outpatient (inpatient) patient”. This form is filled out by a doctor who coordinates patients to another country, – explains Oleksii Kormiletskyi.

After the consultation, Valeriia asked her parents, who are in Ukraine, to submit all the necessary documents to the social security office. Now she will continue to receive benefits as an IDP.   

The material was created with the support of the international charity platform GlobalGiving and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The content of the publication is solely the responsibility of the Legal Development Network.

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