Pensions, IDP payments, subsidies and tariffs: what will change from October 1

Age allowance for pension

In October 2024, payments will increase for those pensioners who who will turn 70, 75 and 80 years old within a month. The main condition is a person’s pension should not be higher than UAH 10,340.35.

As a reminder, the age allowance is paid in the following amounts:

• persons who have reached the age of 70, before reaching the age of 75 — in the amount of up to 300 hryvnias;

• persons who have reached the age of 75, before reaching the age of 80 — in the amount of up to 456 hryvnias;

• persons aged 80 and over — in the amount of up to 570 hryvnias.

Assistance to pensioners from the UN WFP

Also, in October, the amount of pension will increase for those pensioners who have the right to payments from the UN WFP.

We would like to remind you that the program of additional monetary assistance from the World Food Program of the United Nations (UN WFP) for pensioners living in the territories of active or possible hostilities, extended until December 2024 inclusive.

Amount of payment from the UN WFP — this is the amount equal to the difference between UAH 3,250 and the pension amount that a pensioner who meets all the requirements receives now.

Additional cash assistance is provided to pensioners who:

• receive a pension less than 3250 hryvnias;

• live in the territories of active or possible hostilities (their list is determined by Order No. 309);

• did not receive additional cash payments from international organizations and/or accommodation assistance to internally displaced persons after March 1, 2023.

It is not necessary to apply specifically for the appointment of an additional payment. The UN WFP directs funds to pensioners based on information already available in the Pension Fund’s databases. And the payment is made or to a bank card, or through a branch of Ukrposhta (for pensioners who receive a pension through JSC Ukrposhta).

Identification of pensioners in October

Pensioners who received IDP status until February 24, 2022 and have not passed physical identification by March 31, 2024, to continue payments can be verified in October in any convenient way.

It is important to know that funds of pensioners who have not passed the verification will be accumulated on the current account until the moment of their identification. After passing, the pension will be transferred to the pensioner’s account from the month in which the financing of the payment stopped.

In addition, pensioners who are abroadcan go through the physical identification procedure in October and confirm their right to a pension. Pension payments to such pensioners will be made to the current accounts of banks located on the territory of Ukraine, provided that they undergo physical identification by December 31 of each year.

Who will receive IDP payments from October 1

In August 2024, the period for payment of housing allowance for a large part of vulnerable IDPs expired. In order to continue supporting IDPs who are in the most difficult life circumstances, the Government has extended these payments for another 6 months – that is, until February 2025.

Payments in October automatically without additional request the most vulnerable categories of migrants who are unable to work will receive:

• pensioners whose pension does not exceed UAH 9,444;

• people with disabilities of group I or II, children with disabilities under the age of 18, seriously ill children;

• orphans and children deprived of parental care under the age of 23, as well as foster parents and adoptive parents.

Assistance for citizens who live in Ukraine and have the status of internally displaced persons is:

• for persons with disabilities and children — 3000 hryvnias;

• for other persons — 2000 hryvnias.

You can receive money on the 15th and 28th of each month.

Who needs to write a new application for payments

It should be added that other categories of IDPs can also receive assistance from the state. This applies to:

• families with children under the age of 14 who live in the zone of active or possible hostilities, or in conditionally safe regions, but the children there do not have the opportunity to study offline;

• families where one of the family members takes care of a person with a disability of the I group or a child with a disability under the age of 18, or a seriously ill child;

• minor children under the age of 14, who arrived unaccompanied by their parents (at the request of a person who is in a family relationship);

• pregnant women, starting from the 30th week of pregnancy.

In September, the six-month benefit period ended, so resettled people could lose their payments. Such categories of IDPs must in October submit a special application for appointment or extension of payments.

Also, upon application, assistance can be extended to those immigrants who have reached the age of 60 and do not have the right to a pension payment, if the average monthly total income per recipient in such a family does not exceed UAH 9,444 (the date of the move is irrelevant).

If a person was not automatically extended the benefit for technical reasons, but he is entitled to it, it is necessary to apply to the body of social protection of the population/Tsnap.

Cash assistance in October 2024

A joint project of the Ministry of Reintegration and UNICEF regarding monetary support from have with children, who live in the front-line territories of Ukraine.

Payments in the amount UAH 21,800 should receive up to 100,000 people in the communities of six front-line regions, which are planned to be covered by aid in preparation for the winter of 2024/2025.

Also, the communities near the front will receive financial assistance from the International Committee of the Red Cross to survive the winter. In particular, they provide assistance the most vulnerable sections of the population in remote rural and semi-rural areas along the contact line or in border areas.

To whom subsidies for the heating period will be assigned automatically

The subsidy is provided to members of the household if they pay for communal services more than the mandatory payment determined for them.

Housing subsidy for the payment of housing and communal services and the costs of managing an apartment building appointed from the moment of application for its appointment until the end of the heating season (from October 1 to April 30).

In the heating period of 2024−2025, the subsidy calculation will be carried out automatically for everyone who was assigned a subsidy for the non-heating period of 2024 or whose subsidy was UAH 0.00.

Thus, citizens who already receive a subsidy or who were assigned a zero subsidy in the summer period, there is no need to apply additionally for payment.

Who needs to apply for subsidies

To assign a housing subsidy for the heating season of 2024−2025 it is necessary to apply in the following cases:

• if the subsidy assignment documents are submitted for the first time;

• if the housing subsidy for the non-heating period was refused (debt, missing income, etc.);

• if an application for the termination of the subsidy was submitted in the summer and citizens used the benefit for paying for housing and communal services, and they wish to receive a housing subsidy for the heating period;

• if there have been changes in the composition of registered persons, changes in social status, etc.

In the case of a citizen’s application for her appointment in the period until November 30, 2024 housing subsidy will be assigned from October 2024.

Please note that when calculating the housing subsidy from the beginning of the heating season of 2024−2025 household incomes for the I and II quarters of 2024 are taken into account. Income in the form of a pension is taken into account in the amount accrued pensions for August of the current year.

Will one-time assistance of UAH 21,000 from the UN be included in the family’s income

Persons who actually live in the Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, Mykolaiv and Chernihiv regions in a 10-kilometer zone from the state border with the Russian Federation or on the contact line (at the time of submission of the application), and/or in the territories of active and possible hostilities, in residential buildings and premises heated with solid stove household fuel, a one-time financial assistance for heating in the amount of UAH 21,000 per household is paid in the heating season of 2024−2025 (The procedure for providing one-time financial assistance to the population during the heating season of 2024/25 for the purchase of solid stove household fuel, approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated August 30, 2024 No. 993).

Received monetary assistance is not taken into account to the average monthly total household income (paragraph 2 of item 16 of the specified Procedure).

Who will pay for electricity at a preferential rate from October 1

From June 1, 2024, the electricity tariff for the population increased from UAH 2.64/kWh to UAH 4.32/kWh. The new tariff will apply until the end of April 2025.

That is, in October we will pay UAH 4.32/kWh for electricity.

At the same time, from October 1, 2024 to April 30, 2025, that is, during the heating season, consumers who use electric heating installationswill pay at a preferential tariff for electricity in the amount UAH 2.64/kW when consuming up to 2000 kWh of electricity per month.

“Night” tariff for electricity (with the corresponding two-zone meter installed) by October will amount to — UAH 2.16/kW.

By installing a two-zone meter, which takes into account consumption during the day and night, you can significantly save on electricity. Consumers who have such a meter installed, will pay for electricity between 23:00 and 07:00 at only half of the standard tariff.

What will happen to gas and water tariffs

In October, the price of gas for household consumers who use the services of Naftogaz will remain at the same level UAH 7.96 per cubic meter. The gas prices of the remaining suppliers will be within the limits from UAH 7.7 per cubic meter to UAH 9.90.

As a reminder, in April 2024, the gas supply company Naftogaz of Ukraine extended the Fixed tariff plan for another year, guided by the current moratorium on price increases.

In October in some small towns, the water supply service may become more expensive. In particular, the authorities of small towns have the right to set prices for this housing and communal services service at their own discretion. In connection with this, in some of them the prices have increased quite significantly – up to 40%.

Simultaneously for large cities, the NCRECP currently prohibits raising tariffs for water supply and drainage. We will remind that in April 2024 tariff increases were planned for cold water suppliers in Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine, however, the decision on this issue was postponed.