The Cabinet of Ministers approved and sent to parliament the revised draft State Budget for 2025. In particular, the final version of the draft law includes an amended provision regarding bonuses for judges of local courts.
In the initial version of the budget draft, the Ministry of Finance proposed to pay judges of first-instance courts bonuses in 2025 amounting to 40% of their salary. However, since this is not provided for by the law on the judiciary and could cause problems, the judicial governance did not approve of this idea.
Journalists explained that this somewhat strange idea arose because currently, first-instance judges receive less than some officials (about 63 thousand UAH in salary – mainly due to the use of the frozen subsistence minimum of 2102 UAH from 2021 for calculating judges’ salaries), but the government did not simultaneously want the increase in their remuneration to lead to a rise in special pensions for other judges.
Currently, it has become known that instead of bonuses, the Cabinet of Ministers proposed to pay supplements to judges.
Thus, article 41 of the draft law on the State Budget for 2025 is proposed to be clarified editorially as follows:
"To establish that in 2025, in cases provided for by the Law of Ukraine ’On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges,’ judges of local courts are paid a special supplement within the funds provided in the budget for judicial remuneration, amounting to 5 subsistence minimums for able-bodied persons monthly, used to determine the base salary of a judge.
This special supplement is temporary, not considered part of the judicial remuneration of a judge, not used for the purpose of recalculating previously appointed monthly lifetime financial support and does not affect it."
It is proposed to set the supplement at 10.5 thousand UAH.
However, this provision on supplements will not take effect until the MPs vote on a special new law allowing separate supplements for judges.
Thus, clause 1 of the transitional provisions of the budget draft stipulates that the aforementioned article 41 of the Budget law comes into force simultaneously with the enactment of the law on amendments to the "Law On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges" regarding the payment of a special supplement to a local court judge, but not earlier than January 1, 2025.
Thus, the supplement will depend on the speed of the corresponding law’s adoption by the Verkhovna Rada.
The Cabinet of Ministers also indicated that the expenditures for the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine provided in the draft State Budget of Ukraine for 2025 for courts, bodies, and institutions of the justice system "allow the execution of the powers assigned to these bodies by law."
"Compared to the 2024 figures, expenditures under the budget program 0501020 in the draft State Budget for 2025 increased by 1.5 billion UAH, of which 1.1 billion UAH from the general fund, and 0.4 billion UAH from the special fund," noted the Ministry of Finance.
The proposal to establish that from the Pension Fund of Ukraine’s budget for 2025, expenditures on the payment of retrospective court decisions and recalculated pensions according to court decisions are made under separate directions by sources of their payment. The Cabinet of Ministers is tasked with ensuring the determination of the order of implementation of this provision.
Furthermore, article 38 proposes to establish that in 2025, for persons whose pensions (monthly lifetime support) are appointed according to the laws "On Civil Service," "On Service in Local Government Bodies," "On the Status of a Member of Parliament of Ukraine," "On Scientific and Scientific-Technical Activity," "On the Status and Social Protection of Citizens Affected by the Chernobyl Catastrophe," "On the Prosecutor’s Office," "On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges," "On the Constitutional Court of Ukraine" and who have the right to a pension according to the Law "On Mandatory State Pension Insurance," part of the pension payment (part of the monthly financial support), as defined under article 27, paragraph 2 of part 1 and part 2 of article 28 of the Law "On Mandatory State Pension Insurance," is financed from the solidarity system, the difference in pension payment is financed according to the legislation.