Pension without a work record book: government simplifies proof of employment history

The Cabinet of Ministers has simplified the rules for confirming employment history when applying for a pension. The new decision makes it possible to confirm it even if a work record book is missing or lacks the necessary entries. In particular, the changes apply to people who lost their documents due to hostilities or occupation.

Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi, who announced the decision, explained its purpose: to help people affected by the war retain their right to a pension despite losing their documents.

A separate procedure for crediting employment history has been introduced for people who worked at businesses in temporarily occupied territories or in combat zones. It also applies to those whose documents were destroyed as a result of the war.

Employment history can be confirmed in several ways, depending on what information is still available:

• Information from state electronic registers will be used first.
• If the registers do not contain the necessary information, a work record book and other documents will be taken into account. The government has expanded the list of eligible documents.
• If documents are unavailable or have not been preserved, employment history may be confirmed by the testimony of at least two witnesses who worked alongside the applicant. The Pension Fund will help locate these people.

Pension payments vary across the southern regions:

• In Mykolaiv Oblast, as of April 1, 2026, pensioners receive an average of 6,903 hryvnias.
• In Odesa Oblast, payments amount to nearly 7,000 hryvnias.
• In Kherson Oblast, they are slightly more than 6,100 hryvnias.

We previously wrote:

• Digitizing work record books: what happens to your employment history if you don’t meet the deadline?
• Pensions suspended for thousands of IDPs: who was left without money
• Ukrainians abroad and in occupied territories allowed to verify their pensions online