Insurance record is one of the main conditions for granting an old-age pension in Ukraine. It determines when a person can apply for payments and whether all years and months of work will be credited. If some entries are missing from the labor book, errors are found in them, or the person has lost the book itself, the record can be confirmed with other documents.
UNN looked into the best way to do this.
Pension record: why it is important to confirm all periods of work
For the granting of an old-age pension, the insurance record is taken into account — the period during which the employer paid insurance contributions for the person. In everyday life, it is often called work experience, but after the introduction of personalized accounting, it is the insurance record that became decisive.
In 2026, to retire at age 60, one must have at least 33 years of insurance record. If it is lacking, the right to a pension can be exercised later: at age 63 — with at least 23 years of record, at age 65 — with at least 15 years. Therefore, even a few months or one unconfirmed year can affect the retirement date.
Periods of work after January 1, 2004, are calculated based on the data from the register of insured persons. Information from employer reports on paid contributions is entered there. In contrast, periods of work before January 1, 2004, are primarily confirmed by paper documents:
- labor book,
- archival certificates,
- extracts from orders,
- other documents containing work data.
The labor book must correctly state the dates of hiring and dismissal, the names of the enterprises where the person worked, their position, order details, signatures, and seals if available.
If an entry is unclear, has corrections, lacks the necessary details, or is missing entirely, the Pension Fund may request additional confirmation. In such a case, the person does not automatically lose their insurance record, but to confirm it, they must collect the necessary documents, a list of which will be provided by the PFU.
What documents confirm a person's insurance record
The main document confirming periods of work before the implementation of personalized accounting is the labor book. However, in its absence or in the absence of necessary entries, the record can be confirmed by other documents issued at the place of work, service, study, or by archival institutions.
Such documents include:
- certificates from enterprises, institutions, or organizations;
- certificates from legal successors of liquidated enterprises;
- archival certificates;
- extracts from orders on hiring, transfer, or dismissal; personal accounts;
- payroll records;
- certificates/IDs;
- character references;
- written labor contracts;
- agreements with marks of their execution.
The PFU may also take into account documents from the information systems of enterprises if they contain data on periods of work. For certain categories of people, the following may be important:
- military ID;
- certificates from territorial recruitment and social support centers; certificates from military units;
- diplomas;
- certificates of qualification;
- documents on full-time education;
- documents on caring for a child or an adult who required external support.
For periods after the introduction of personalized accounting, data from the register of insured persons remains key. If a person was an entrepreneur, documents on the payment of insurance contributions, single or fixed tax may be required depending on the period of work.
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Document confirming work record: which options are suitable for crediting the record
If there is no entry in the labor book for a certain period of work, the first step is to contact the enterprise where the person worked. If the enterprise is active, it can issue a certificate based on personnel documents, orders, personal cards, time sheets, personal accounts, or salary records.
If the enterprise changed its name, was reorganized, or merged with another structure, one should look for its legal successor. In the event that the enterprise was liquidated, the documents should have been transferred to an archival institution. In such a case, it is necessary to contact the state, sectoral, local archive, or the archival department of the community or district.
The certificate of record must clearly state the person's last name, first name, and patronymic, the period of work, position, date and number of the hiring order, date and number of the dismissal order, as well as the basis on which this document was issued. If the paper only provides general data without reference to primary documents, the Pension Fund may require additional confirmation.
Not only archival certificates can be suitable for confirming the record. Any documents containing information about the period of work can be important:
- orders;
- labor contracts;
- pay slips;
- salary records;
- trade union cards with marks of membership fee payments;
- service IDs.
How a person who needs to confirm their work record should act
In practice, it is worth acting in stages. First — check the labor book and data in the personal account on the Pension Fund portal. Then determine which periods are missing or cause doubt. After that — contact the employer, legal successor, or archive. It is important to keep not only the certificates received but also the responses from archives or institutions stating that the documents were not preserved.
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How to confirm record if there are no documents in the archive
The most difficult situation arises when the enterprise has been liquidated, there is no legal successor, and the documents have not been preserved in the archive.
Such situations have become more frequent since 2014 and after 2022, when Russia twice carried out military aggression against Ukraine. Because of this, some archives, enterprises, and institutions ended up in temporarily occupied territories, and some documents were damaged or destroyed entirely.
In such cases, legislation allows for the confirmation of the record based on witness testimony. This requires at least two witnesses who knew the applicant from working together at the same enterprise, institution, organization, or in the same system. It is important that these people themselves have documents about their work for the period for which they are confirming their former colleague's work.
It is worth noting: in order to use witness testimony to confirm the insurance record, a person needs to obtain documentary confirmation that they contacted the archive, employer, or legal successor, but the documents are missing, destroyed, damaged, or were not transferred for storage.
If documents were destroyed or damaged as a result of hostilities, sabotage, or occupation, this must also be documented. For enterprises located or previously located in temporarily occupied territories or in combat zones, separate approaches to confirming the record are provided.
If the record was not credited, the decision can be appealed in administrative or judicial proceedings. It is better to go to court with a maximally collected evidence base: copies of the labor book, certificates, archival responses, written refusals, testimonies, and other documents.
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Why it is important to digitize the labor book by June 10
Until June 10, 2026, a transition period is underway in Ukraine for entering data from paper labor books into the Register of Insured Persons.
An electronic labor book is a digital representation of information about a person's labor activity. Its goal is to preserve record data, simplify pension processing, and reduce dependence on paper documents.
The labor book can be digitized by the employer or the employee themselves. To do this, it is necessary to prepare scanned copies of all pages of the labor book in chronological order, as well as other documents confirming the record.
Scan copies must be clear, in color, and made from original documents. Dates, signatures, seals, names of institutions, and the owner's last name, first name, and patronymic must be legible. Documents can be uploaded through the personal account on the Pension Fund web portal using a qualified electronic signature or submitted through a PFU service center.
If the labor book is not digitized by June 10, 2026, paper documents can still be used to confirm the record. However, in the future, this may complicate pension processing, especially if the document is lost, damaged at some stage, or if errors are found in it.
The best option is to check the documents in advance. It is worth reviewing the labor book, verifying all periods of work, checking electronic data on the Pension Fund portal, and uploading scan copies of documents. If gaps, inaccuracies, or missing entries are found, the collection of confirmations should not be delayed.
For people who worked before 2004, digitizing the labor book is especially important: it is these periods that are most often confirmed by paper documents.
As a reminder
In 2026, Ukrainians will be able to buy pension record for 22.8 thousand hryvnias per year. Purchasing for past periods will cost twice as much due to a special coefficient.