The Pension Fund calculates a pension from the data in its own register. If an employer once failed to file its returns, the company’s archive has been lost and the employment record book was filled in with errors, those years simply do not exist for the calculation. Nobody tells you: the pension is simply smaller, and that is that.
A pensions lawyer is needed exactly here: to prove service that never reached the register, to challenge an understated calculation, and to obtain a recalculation — including for the past.
This is one of the few categories where a court judgment almost always means real money: a higher pension going forward plus back payment for the preceding months.
What we work on
Categories of case
- refusal to award a pension — by age, for length of service, on disability, on loss of a breadwinner;
- insured service not counted — lost archives, errors in the record book, an employer that never filed returns;
- an understated pension — earnings, coefficients or periods wrongly taken into account;
- recalculation — after continued work, a change in the law, or acquiring a right to benefits;
- early-retirement pensions — under lists No. 1 and No. 2 (hazardous work);
- recalculation of a military pension;
- payment of a pension for the past — where the right existed but nothing was paid;
- pensions for displaced people and for those who have moved abroad.
The commonest problem: service that “is not there”
Work before 1 January 2004 is evidenced by the employment record book and archive documents, while service after that date is calculated solely from the register of insured persons (Law “On Compulsory State Pension Insurance” No. 1058-IV). It is at the join between these two rules that years disappear:
- errors in the entries — the wrong date, no stamp, a company name that does not match the order;
- the company was liquidated and its archive never handed over;
- the archive has been lost — destroyed, burnt, or left in occupied territory;
- the employer did not pay the contributions although you were formally employed;
- work abroad, which needs separate confirmation under a treaty.
What we do: lawyer’s enquiries to archives, the Pension Fund and companies’ successors; gathering indirect evidence — orders, payroll records, union documents, evidence from colleagues who worked alongside you. Where there is no record book or the entries are missing, service is proved in the manner set by Cabinet Resolution No. 637 of 12 August 1993, and where documents are lacking the fact of employment is established in court.
A word about contributions. An employer’s failure to pay the unified social contribution is its breach, and courts often side with an employee who actually worked. But for periods after 2004 the practice is uneven, so such service has to be proved with evidence — the employment contract, orders, payment records — and not simply by pointing to someone else’s fault.
Where to start on your own
Before arguing, you need to see the same data the Pension Fund is working from.
The extract from the register of insured persons
The electronic cabinet at portal.pfu.gov.ua gives individual data on the insured person — forms OK-5 and OK-7. They show month by month: who filed returns for you and for which periods, on what earnings contributions were paid, and where the gaps are. The same document can be obtained at a Pension Fund service centre on a written request.
The calculation of the pension awarded
You are entitled to know which periods and sums it was based on. The error is often visible from this document alone: a year missing, the wrong earnings period taken, a preferential coefficient not applied.
A written refusal
An oral “you are not entitled” cannot be challenged. Insist on a decision or a reply with reasons — that document is what the dispute is about.
Challenging a Pension Fund refusal
The Fund’s decisions and inaction are challenged in the administrative court (Art. 19 of the Code of Administrative Procedure). The claim is filed where the claimant lives, so there is no need to travel to a regional centre.
The steps:
- Obtain the written refusal with reasons.
- Obtain the pension calculation and the extract from the register of insured persons.
- Gather the evidence — archive certificates, orders, payroll records, witness evidence.
- File the administrative claim seeking to have the disputed periods counted and the pension recalculated.
- See the judgment enforced — including the back payment.
The court fee for a non-monetary administrative claim by an individual in 2026 is 1,331.20 UAH, and 20 % less through the Electronic Court. Some claimants are exempt: among others, people with group I and II disabilities, combat veterans and Chornobyl clean-up workers (Art. 5 of the Law “On Court Fees”). If you win, the fee and the legal costs are recovered from the Pension Fund.
Payment for the past
How far back you are paid depends on why the recalculation is being made.
Where the pension was understated because of the Pension Fund’s own error, the sums lost through its fault are paid for the past without any time limit (Art. 46 of Law No. 1058-IV). These are the cases that produce substantial back payments.
Where it is a recalculation on your own application — after continuing to work, for example — it takes effect from the month following the month you applied with all the documents (Art. 45). So delay in applying costs real money: nobody pays for the earlier months.
Even a small monthly difference over several years exceeds the cost of litigation, and at the consultation we do that arithmetic for your case straight away.
A case from our practice
In 2024 a woman born in 1963 came to us: the Pension Fund had not counted six years at a company liquidated in the late 1990s — its archive was never handed to a successor, and in her record book the company name did not match the stamp. We sent lawyer’s enquiries to the regional state archive and to the industry association’s archive and found the hiring and dismissal orders and payroll records for four of the six years. The rest of the period was confirmed by two former colleagues and a union card. The administrative court ordered the Fund to count the disputed periods and recalculate: the monthly pension rose by about 900 UAH and the back payment came to around 30,000 UAH. The case took eight months and our fee was 18,000 UAH. (details changed)
What the court checks in a pension dispute
Whether the procedure at the Fund was followed
Whether you applied, what documents you filed, whether the Fund gave a written answer with reasons. A dispute about inaction is easier to win than a dispute about “the calculation being wrong in general”.
Whether each disputed period is evidenced
The court weighs the documents together: one archive certificate without the order persuades less than a certificate together with payroll records and the record book entry.
Whether the coefficients and earnings period were applied correctly
Here the dispute becomes arithmetic, and the winner is whoever filed their own calculation rather than general objections.
Whether the deadline for going to court has passed
For an administrative claim it is six months from the day the person learned of the breach (Art. 122).
Whether the file contains a substantive reply from the Fund
If the Fund stayed silent, that works for the claimant: the court sees that the person tried to resolve the matter without litigation.
How we work
- We analyse the pension calculation and the OK-5 data — which periods and sums it rests on, and what was left out.
- We send lawyer’s enquiries to archives, the Pension Fund and companies’ successors.
- We gather the evidence of service — direct and indirect.
- We prepare the claim with our own calculation and demands for recalculation and back payment.
- We run the case in the administrative court.
- We supervise enforcement, because the Fund does not always recalculate voluntarily or on time.
Cost of services
The court fee for a non-monetary administrative claim by an individual in 2026 is 1,331.20 UAH (1,064.96 UAH through the Electronic Court) and 3,328 UAH for a company. Certain categories of claimant are exempt (Art. 5 of the Law “On Court Fees”). If you win, the fee is recovered from the Pension Fund along with documented legal costs.
Questions and answers (Pensions lawyer)
How long is there to go to court after a refusal?
Six months from the day you learned of the breach (Art. 122). The court can restore a missed deadline if the reason is good and documented: treatment, travel, lengthy correspondence with the Fund. Do not wait years for a “final answer” — that is exactly how people lose the right to a hearing.
Can the case be run remotely, including from abroad?
Yes. You send the documents by email or messenger, the engagement letter is signed electronically, and the lawyer attends hearings on a warrant. For a pension paid abroad an annual identification is required: it is done by video in the Pension Fund’s app or at a consulate, and a missed identification is the commonest reason payments stop.
How long does an administrative case take?
First instance usually takes 4–8 months, with an appeal adding another 3–6. Most of the time goes not on hearings but on obtaining archive documents, so we send the enquiries in parallel with drafting the claim.
We won, but the Fund is not recalculating. What now?
First we apply to the court for supervision of enforcement (Art. 382): the court orders the Fund to report on compliance and fines the head of the office if it does not. In parallel we open enforcement proceedings for the specific back payments.
I am working after my pension was awarded. When can I ask for a recalculation?
A recalculation taking account of additional service and earnings is available where there are at least 24 months of insured service since the pension was awarded or since the last recalculation. It is done on application, not automatically, and takes effect from the month after you apply.
I have no employment record book at all. Is there any chance of proving service?
Yes. Where there is no record book or the entries are missing, service is proved by other documents in the manner set by Cabinet Resolution No. 637: archive certificates, orders, payroll records, personnel cards. Witness evidence is accepted as supporting proof where the documents were lost through no fault of yours.
Contact a Svarog pensions lawyer
Send us the pension calculation, the employment record book and the OK-5 extract from your Pension Fund cabinet — we will check which periods were left out, calculate how much you are losing each month, and tell you what back payment can be recovered. That alone shows whether the case is worth the court fee.