Ukraine is completing the transition period for electronic work records, but citizens who still have paper employment books will not lose their accumulated service history after the deadline. The Pension Fund says documents can still be uploaded to the state portal later.
The reform mainly concerns people who started working before January 2004 and still rely on paper records to confirm employment history. The goal is to move information into a digital system so it is preserved even if paper documents are lost, destroyed or left in occupied territory.
Why digitization matters
Employees or employers can submit scanned copies or clear photos of all completed pages of the work book. Many HR departments have already done this for staff, but workers can check the status through the Pension Fund electronic services portal using BankID or an electronic signature.
The digital record does not cancel the value of paper documents. Instead, it creates an additional layer of protection. This is especially important during the war, when archives, offices and personal documents can be damaged or become inaccessible.
If the original book is lost, employment history may be confirmed through employment contracts, workplace certificates, extracts from orders, archive payroll records or, in difficult cases, testimony from former colleagues. The reform therefore reduces a practical risk: a person’s pension rights should not depend only on one fragile paper document.
