**1. Subject matter of the dispute:**
The subject matter of the dispute in this case is the unlawful refusal of the Pension Fund authority to recalculate the monthly lifetime financial allowance of a retired judge on the basis of a certificate in which the official salary was calculated taking into account the actual subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons as of January 1, 2024.
**2. Key arguments of the court:**
The Supreme Court emphasized that the amount of judicial remuneration and the lifetime allowance of retired judges is regulated exclusively by the special Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” and cannot be determined or limited by other laws. The Court noted that the Constitution of Ukraine guarantees the financial independence of judges, which protects their material provision from any reduction or restriction of the achieved level. The legislation on the subsistence minimum does not provide for such a separate type of social standard as the “subsistence minimum for determining the official salary of a judge”, which was artificially reduced in the state budget law to 2,102 hryvnias. The Law on the State Budget of Ukraine cannot amend or suspend the operation of special laws, and therefore, the general subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons in the amount of 3,028 hryvnias must be applied to calculate the judge’s salary. **:** The decision notes a departure from the previous position of the Supreme Court (formulated in case No. 520/32171/24), which allowed the application of a reduced amount of the subsistence minimum to calculate judicial remuneration and pension payments. Furthermore, the panel of judges rejected the reference to the findings of the Grand Chamber in case No. 240/9028/24, as the circumstances of that case are not similar and concerned payments upon the dismissal of an active judge, rather than the recalculation of the allowance of a retired judge.
**3. Court decision:**
The Supreme Court granted the plaintiff’s cassation appeal, reversed the ruling of the court of appeal, and upheld the decision of the court of first instance, by which the Pension Fund was ordered to recalculate and pay the monthly lifetime financial allowance of the retired judge starting from January 1, 2024.
