First audit of the Pension Fund reveals problems with identification and payments
Kyiv • UNN
The Accounting Chamber conducted the first historical audit of the Pension Fund according to international standards. The audit revealed problems with the identification of pensioners and an additional burden on the budget due to increased payments.
The Accounting Chamber has conducted the first-ever audit of the Pension Fund's efficiency according to international standards. What was found was told by the head of the Accounting Chamber Olha Pishchanska on October 24, UNN reports.
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"In general, despite the difficult conditions of the war, the Pension Fund managed to ensure timely and full payment of pensions to more than 10 million pensioners. Almost 50% of pension expenditures in 2022-2023 were covered by attracting international loans and grants, in particular through the REASE project," Pishchanska wrote on Facebook.
According to the Chairman of the Accounting Chamber, demographic changes are and will remain one of the most difficult challenges for the Pension Fund. As of the beginning of April 2024, the burden for every thousand insured increased to 945 pensioners.
"At the same time, we have identified significant problems with the system of physical identification of pensioners, especially IDPs and those in the temporarily occupied territories," the official said.
According to her, "there are legislative gaps that create conditions for receiving pensions in increased amounts, in particular, for pensioners who were members of the security forces and people living in radioactively contaminated areas." "Increasing pensions for these categories by court decisions has resulted in an additional burden on the Pension Fund's budget of UAH 66.5 billion per year," Pishchanska said.
In addition, according to her, the list of radioactive contamination zones is long outdated, and cases of registration of up to 30 pensioners at one address in these areas are not isolated.
"The results of this audit are an important signal of the urgency of reforms aimed at creating a socially fair, transparent and sustainable pension system. In our recommendations to the Pension Fund of Ukraine, the Ministry of Social Policy and the Ministry of Finance, we emphasize the need to improve the regulatory framework to optimize the Pension Fund's budget expenditures, as well as to strengthen the processes of pensioner identification," Pishchanska said.
She added that the government has already started to address some of the issues raised by the Accounting Chamber during the audit.
