A man switched to a different pension type, but the Pension Fund demands he repay 7,744 hryvnias. Here’s the court's ruling on the matter.

A man has submitted an application to switch from an old-age pension to a disability pension. He is required to return the overpayment of his pension for the period from June 26, 2023, to June 30, 2024, amounting to 7,744 hryvnias due to the recalculation of his pension type. This was stated in the decision of the Myronivsky District Court of Kyiv Oblast, published on December 20, 2024.

The man is registered with the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in Kyiv Oblast. On June 26, 2023, he filed a request to transition to a different type of pension, specifically from an old-age pension, in accordance with the Law of Ukraine on "Mandatory State Pension Insurance" without special conditions, to a disability pension under Article 54 of the Law of Ukraine on "The Status and Social Protection of Citizens Affected by the Chernobyl Catastrophe," in the amount of compensation for actual losses. Since June 26, 2023, the pension amount has been calculated according to the procedure for calculating pensions for individuals affected by the Chernobyl disaster, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine resolution dated November 23, 2011, No. 1210 "On Increasing the Level of Social Protection for Citizens," which came into effect on January 1, 2012, and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine resolution dated December 9, 2021, No. 1307. During the recalculation process, the specialist did not take into account the conditional calculation and did not establish limitations on pension indexing from March 1, 2023. On July 1, 2024, the documentation processing department No. 2 reported via a memo the discovery of pension overpayment for the period from June 26, 2023, to June 30, 2024, in the sum of 7,744 hryvnias due to the recalculation of the pension type, and the citizen was informed about this over the phone, being offered to voluntarily resolve the issue of returning the funds, but he declined.

What was the court's decision?

The court denied the claim. The Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in Kyiv Oblast did not provide evidence to confirm circumstances of abuse or bad faith on the part of the man.

"Furthermore, the court was not provided with the results of the service investigation regarding the errors made by employees in calculating the pension benefits or evidence of software failures that led to excessive payments. Therefore, it is premature to assert that the authority responsible for appointing pensions accurately established the fact of pension overpayment. The case materials indicate that the plaintiff did not establish the very fact of a calculation error, which is the subject of proof in this dispute, namely: there are no conclusions from audits, inspection reports, or service investigations, which would allow tracking the path and cause of the error in pension calculations and determining that this error is indeed a calculation error, rather than an error related to the improper performance of duties by officials responsible for the calculation and recalculation of pensions, as well as for carrying out control functions," the court emphasized.