Subject of the Dispute: Whether the refusal of the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Mykolaiv Region to index the pension of PERSON_1 using the coefficient of increase in the average wage (income) indicator in Ukraine is lawful.
Arguments of the Court:
The Supreme Court partially granted the plaintiff’s cassation appeal, emphasizing that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine does not have the authority to establish a basic calculation value for pension indexation, as this contradicts the Law of Ukraine “On Compulsory State Pension Insurance”. The court emphasized that indexation should be carried out by increasing the indicator of the average wage (income) in Ukraine, which was directly taken into account when calculating the pension. The court noted that the provisions of Procedure No. 124, which contradict the Law of Ukraine “On Compulsory State Pension Insurance”, are not subject to application. At the same time, the court took into account the terms of appeal to the court established by the Code of Administrative Court Procedure of Ukraine and protected the plaintiff’s rights only within the six-month period before the appeal to the court. The court also took into account that indexation was not actually accrued to the plaintiff, therefore there are no grounds for applying the rule regarding the amount of pension not paid to the pensioner not being limited by any period.
Decision of the Court: The court overturned the decisions of the previous instances and issued a new decision on the partial satisfaction of the claims, recognizing the refusal to index the pension as illegal and obliging to recalculate and pay the pension, taking into account the established coefficients, but only for a period not exceeding the six-month period before the appeal to the court.
