From August 2, 2026, significant changes to the pension legislation will come into force in Ukraine. The new Law No. 4851-IX, aimed at simplifying the confirmation of insurance record, is designed to help citizens who have periods of work that were not recorded due to employer negligence. RBC-Ukraine analyzes in detail how these innovations will affect pension assignment and who will benefit most from them.

Work without contributions is now counted towards work experience

The main innovation of the law concerns situations where the employer did not pay the single contribution but officially submitted reports. Now, periods of work will be included in the insurance record provided that two conditions are met simultaneously:

  • The employer has an arrears for the payment of the single contribution;
  • The employer submitted reports confirming the accrual of wages and contributions in an amount not less than the minimum insurance contribution.

This decision is intended to protect the rights of workers whose employers evaded payments but formally kept records of accruals. It is important to understand that such periods will be taken into account for determining the right to a pension, although they may not fully affect the final amount of payments.

Rising requirements for work experience and real examples

The changes come into force against the backdrop of the annual increase in requirements for the duration of insurance record for retirement at the age of 60. The schedule looks as follows:

  • In 2026, 33 years of work experience are required;
  • In 2027 — 34 years;
  • From 2028 — already 35 years.

How does this work in practice? Imagine that a person turns 60 in 2026 and has officially confirmed 32 years of work experience. However, there are two more years of work for which the employer did not pay contributions but submitted reports. Under the old rules, this work experience could have been lost. According to the new law, these two years will be counted. The total work experience will be 34 years, which will give the person the legal right to retire by age.

Simplifying bureaucracy and assistance from the PFU

The law also imposes obligations on the Pension Fund of Ukraine (PFU). If documents are missing for the assignment or recalculation of a pension, fund employees are obliged to assist in obtaining them. In case of refusal to assign a pension due to insufficient work experience, PFU employees must clearly explain to the citizen how to confirm it, including through the courts.

For those who do not have a work book or lack the necessary entries in it, the existing mechanisms for confirming work experience through other documents, which were previously explained in official sources, remain in effect.

What will not change in August

Experts and representatives of the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine have assessed the changes positively, noting that they solve part of the problems, although they do not close all issues with confirming work experience. At the same time, it is important to dispel rumors: a mass recalculation of pensions in August is not planned, as the indexation has already taken place in March of this year.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the supplement of 570 hryvnias. This payment is assigned to certain categories of pensioners and has no relation to the new rules for calculating insurance record.