Funded pensions and more: Parliament plans to consider social and pension issues

In the near future, the Verkhovna Rada plans to consider a number of bills on social and pension security. Among them is the one on the funded pension system, UNN writes with reference to the agenda of the Verkhovna Rada.

Accumulative pension provision

The draft law, registered under No. 9212, was initiated by a group of MPs led by the head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, David Arakhamia, and the head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Social Policy and Veterans' Rights, Halyna Tretyakova.

The Verkhovna Rada's relevant committee recommended that the parliament adopt the draft law as a basis last April.

And this was not the first attempt to pass the reform in the parliament. The last one failed a few years ago.

The current draft law provides for mandatory participation in the funded pension system for all categories of employees until they reach the age of 55 and mandatory payment of pension contributions by employers in favor of such employees.

In particular, the document stipulates that starting from 2025, each working person's personal accounts opened with the state authorized pension fund will receive 2% of the salary fund as additional pension savings every month: 1% - from the unified social tax, 1% - from the state budget. In 2026, the deductions will be 3%, and in 2027 - 4%.

It is also expected that the state will guarantee the safety of pension funds, and when the owner of a pension account passes away, the amount of pension savings can be inherited.

"It is assumed that in the future, when the private sector and the National Securities and Stock Market Commission are ready, insurance companies, non-state pension funds, and asset management companies will join the savings system," Tretyakova said.

At the same time, Finance Minister Sergiy Marchenko said in an interview that before the war he was a supporter of pension reform and helped to promote it, and now the Ministry of Finance supports it "conceptually." However, in a time of war, its implementation may be too difficult, the minister believes. A similar conclusion was reached by the State Tax Service in its comments to the draft law, stating that the introduction of a funded pension system in the context of ongoing aggression may not yield the expected financial result for citizens.

Pensions for special services

Draft Law No. 8123 on Amendments to Article 6 of the Law of Ukraine "On Pensions for Special Services to Ukraine" provides for the possibility of women with the status of "Mother Heroine" to receive two pension supplements. Currently, the law provides that if a person has a number of merits for which he or she is granted bonuses, he or she can receive only one of them.

The draft law proposes to set two allowances for such women at the same time:

• For special services to Ukraine; 
• For the merits of the deceased breadwinner, a serviceman who, since 2014, participated in repelling and deterring the armed aggression of the Russian Federation and/or other states, being directly in the combat areas.

Special merit pensions are granted in the amount of 20 to 40% of the subsistence minimum as a supplement to the basic pension.

Pensions for convicts

In the near future, the Parliament may also consider a government draft law on changes to the peculiarities of paying pensions to persons who have committed a criminal offense against the foundations of national security, public safety, peace, human security, and international law and order (No. 10355). The document proposes pension payments in the amount of the subsistence minimum for persons who have lost their ability to work. Thus, as the initiators of the bill clarify, the state will once again emphasize its negative attitude to these crimes. At the same time, human rights activists noted that the draft law needs to be discussed, in particular because the establishment of minimum payments also applies to those who are only at the stage of suspicion

Administration of the unified social contribution

Draft Law No. 9569 "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Administration of the Single Contribution to the Compulsory State Social Insurance" was supposed to be submitted to the parliamentary session back in March of this year. But it did not happen then. For what reasons is unknown.

The document envisages the merger of administrative structures and the assignment of the administration of the unified social tax to the Pension Fund of Ukraine.

Thus, the Pension Fund of Ukraine will be responsible for registering insurers, collecting and accounting for insurance funds, controlling the completeness and timeliness of their payment, and maintaining the State Register of Compulsory State Social Insurance, including personalized records of information on insured persons in accordance with the law.

Accordingly, the unified social tax will be paid in national currency by depositing the respective amounts of the unified social tax to the accounts of the Pension Fund's territorial offices.

Unified register of qualifications

Draft Law No. 9630 on improving the national qualifications system is also scheduled to be considered at one of the next meetings of the Verkhovna Rada. The document envisages the creation of a Unified Register of Qualifications based on the Classifier of Occupations, the Handbook of Qualification Characteristics of Employee Occupations and the Register of Qualifications and synchronization with other databases to make the process of exchanging and accessing information on professional qualifications fast, transparent and in line with the needs of the labor market in real time.

The explanatory note to it states that the existing National Classifier of Occupations and the Handbook of Qualification Characteristics of Employee Occupations, due to their lack of synchronization with the Register of Qualifications, obsolescence and inconsistency with modern production processes and equipment, as well as their maintenance by different entities, hinder the development of the labor market and do not contribute to the effective performance of the tasks and functions of the collegial body in the field of qualifications.

Strengthening employer liability for salary delays

A draft law on amendments to strengthen the protection of employees' claims for payment of wage arrears, including in the event of employer insolvency (No. 9510), has also been included in the agenda for one of the next parliamentary sessions.

The authors of the document propose, among other things, to enshrine in law the rules that ensure proper legislative protection of the employee's right to timely receipt of remuneration for work and guarantee that he or she receives adequate monetary compensation for losses incurred as a result of violation of the terms of its payment.

The document also strengthens the employer's liability for delayed wages.

In addition, the draft law lays down the legal basis for the establishment of a guarantee institution to satisfy the monetary claims of employees in the event of an employer's insolvency.

Amendments to the compulsory state social insurance

In the near future, the Parliament is also planning to consider in the first reading the draft law on amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine on compulsory state social insurance No. 10017. The need for its adoption is due to the fact that the Social Insurance Fund of Ukraine and the departments of its executive directorate have ceased operations, and the functions in the field of compulsory state social insurance in connection with temporary disability and compulsory state social insurance against industrial accidents and occupational diseases that caused disability are performed by the Pension Fund of Ukraine and its territorial bodies starting from January 1, 2023.