Judges to receive monthly supplements amid freezing of pensions payments.

Judges will receive a monthly supplement instead of bonuses

According to the new State Budget project for 2025, judges of local courts will be paid a monthly supplement of 10.5 thousand UAH instead of bonuses. This decision was made due to freezing the minimum pensions in Ukraine for several years.

According to the 'Sudovo-yurydychna' newspaper, the initial version of the bill proposed to give first instance judges bonuses amounting to 40% of their salary, but this was deemed unacceptable in the judicial system. Therefore, a new approach was proposed.

'In 2025, in cases provided for by the Law of Ukraine 'On Judicial System and Status of Judges', judges of local courts will be paid a special supplement in the amount of 5 subsistence minimums for able-bodied persons on a monthly basis,' the statement reads.

This supplement will not be considered as part of the judges' remuneration and will not affect the calculation of judges' lifelong financial support. However, to introduce these supplements, a relevant law will need to be adopted and necessary changes will need to be made to the budget project.

The changes were introduced because first instance judges receive less than some officials, based on their salary calculation according to the frozen subsistence minimum. This also led to objections regarding increasing 'special pensions' to other judges.