Internally displaced retiree resumes retirement benefits collection

Publication date: August 13, 2024

A successful case out of Local Initiatives Support Center Non-Governmental Organization  practice is currently relevant for many internally displaced retirees who want to resume receiving their retirement benefits, which were suspended due to failure to pass identification or for other reasons.

Mr. Oleh, a resident of Pavlohrad, Dnipro Region, turned to the Local Initiatives Support Center Non-Governmental Organization with a request to clarify how to proceed further. He was abroad and had not received his retirement benefits for a year. Mr. Oleh is an IDP but has not undergone any identification procedures.

Organization’s lawyer, Oleksii Kormiletskyi, explained that retirement benefits to internally displaced persons are restored and distributed by the territorial bodies of the Pension Fund of Ukraine upon the place of physical residence/stay, regardless of the registered domicile address.

Retirement benefits not paid for the period before the month of resumption are paid to IDPs and persons who have refused, in accordance with Paragraph 1,  Part 1 of Article 12 of the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons”, to receive a certificate of registration of IDPs and have registered their place of residence and permanently reside in the territory controlled by Ukraine, in accordance with the Resolution No. 1165, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine as of November 10, 2021.

Below is a detailed algorithm of actions explained by the lawyer to the client. As a result, the IDP resumed retirement benefits within a month.

Key steps to get retirement benefits restored

I. An IDP must open an account with JSC Oschadbank, since according to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 637 as of November 05, 2014, retirement benefits granted to IDP retirees are paid through the accounts and network of institutions and devices of such bank allowing cash withdrawals and non-cash transactions through the network of institutions and devices of any bank only in the territory where state authorities exercise their powers in full.

II. Apply to the territorial body of the Pension Fund of Ukraine with the following documents:

• application requesting a retirement case
• IDP registration certificate copy
• registration number of the taxpayer’s account card assignment document
• retiree identification card (passport, retirement benefit certificate)
• application for transfer of retirement benefits to the State Savings Bank of Ukraine PJSC account
• two 2.5×3 photographs

III. The territorial body of the Pension Fund of Ukraine identifies the applicant, records the place and time of his/her application, compares the data received with the data processed in the databases of the Pension Fund of Ukraine, taking into account the data of the Unified Information Database on Internally Displaced Persons.

The territorial bodies of the Pension Fund of Ukraine may conduct identification of a person via video conferencing in compliance with the legislation in the field of electronic trust services. During such a videoconference session, identification documents are required.

IDP identification

Physical identification of an IDP receiving a retirement benefit through a current account at an institution of Oschadbank JSC is carried out by Oschadbank JSC every 6 months from the date of opening an account or from the date of the previous physical identification.

For persons who were registered as IDPs prior to introduction of Martial Law in Ukraine and who failed to undergo physical identification during the quarantine or restrictive measures related to COVID-19, in order to continue accrual of retirement benefits, a physical identification was required by March 31, 2024 (Paragraph 5  Clause 1 of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 637 as of  November 05, 2014).

Identification procedure ways:

• in person, by contacting a branch of Oschadbank JSC or a service center of the Pension Fund of Ukraine with an identification document (passport of a citizen of Ukraine).
• through a personal account on the Pension Fund of Ukraine’s electronic services web portal https://portal.pfu.gov.ua using the remote Qualified Electronic Signature Diia.Signature (Diia ID) created via the mobile application of the Unified State Electronic Services Web Portal.
• via video conferencing.
• at a foreign diplomatic institution (for IDP retirees located abroad).

The requirement of physical identification for all recipients of retirement and social benefits has been in place in Ukraine since 2004. It is a common international practice that is necessary to verify that a person receiving funds from the state is actually alive and that the person to whom they were intended is receiving the payment.

The vast majority of Ukrainian retirees and recipients of social benefits did not take this rule into account, as they passed physical identification in a way that did not attract attention, for example, by applying to a bank for a new plastic card. Or, in practice, the identification was carried out by the postman when delivering the retirement benefit.

In case a retiree located out of Ukraine or in the temporarily occupied territories, there are two ways to complete the identification:

• By logging in to your personal electronic account on the web portal of electronic services of the Pension Fund of Ukraine using a Qualified Electronic Signature “Diia signature” (“Diia ID”). It can be created using the mobile application of the Unified State Web Portal of Electronic Services.
• By applying to a foreign diplomatic institution of Ukraine for a document certifying that the person is alive. The received document, along with a written application for the continued payment of a retirement benefit, written in any form, must be sent by mail to the territorial body of the Pension Fund of Ukraine upon the place of registration.

The application can also be submitted via the Pension Fund of Ukraine’s electronic services web portal. It must be accompanied by a high-quality scanned copy of a document certifying that the person is alive, using an electronic digital signature.

Therefore, a visit to a diplomatic institution is NOT mandatory, it is much more convenient to be identified using digital tools without leaving home.

You can get an individual consultation through the Legal Development Network’s online chat. The chat is available daily from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Assistance is provided by lawyers from human rights organizations that are members of the Legal Development Network.

The material was created with the support of the international charitable platform GlobalGiving, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The content of the publication is the sole responsibility of the Legal Development Network Non-Governmental Union.

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