Pension Reform Through the Eyes of Ukrainian Pensioners

Pension Reform Through the Eyes of Ukrainian Pensioners

Elderly citizens explained how much they barely survive on per month under Poroshenko-Groysman era

This week, in the plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada, lawmakers are to consider in the second reading the draft law No. 6614 on pension reform.

According to this draft law, transparent rules will be introduced to determine the size of pensions for all citizens, regardless of status and place of employment.

“Until recently, pensions were awarded under fifteen different laws, so there were different calculations of pension provision. For example, a civil servant with 20 years of civil service received a pension amounting to 90% of the last salary, while all other citizens received only 40% of their salary,” explained Minister of Social Policy Andriy Reva. “That is, for the same length of service and the same earnings, pensions for certain categories differed by more than twofold,” he added.

The bill to amend certain legislative acts of Ukraine to increase pensions from 1 January 2018 of year cancels special retirement conditions for all citizens, except for military personnel, who will be assigned retirement benefits based on service year.

Meanwhile, under the National Bank building, pensioners have been gathering for the second week in a row, demanding to “throw the head of the National Bank Valeriya Goncharova” into the cells. Pensioners are also called an “army of Rabinovich.”

“Ukrainian military publication” asked these people about their work experience, the pension they receive, and the pension they would like to receive.