Poland’s government has approved plans for a special monthly benefit of around 6,200 zloty (€1,433) for people after they reach the age of 100. “It’s our way of expressing gratitude for the years of stories they share with us,” wrote the prime minister’s office.
The payments, which will be paid in addition to any other pension or benefits, were proposed by the ministry of family, labour and social policy in an effort to make a practice that had been happening already more formal, consistent and predictable.
Rząd przyjął projekt ustawy o świadczeniu honorowym dla osób, które ukończyły 100 lat. Każdy stulatek będzie otrzymywał 6.246,13 zł brutto miesięcznie, z coroczną waloryzacją.
To nasz sposób, by wyrazić wdzięczność za lata historii, którymi dzielą się z nami. 🌟… pic.twitter.com/MEBog0yIEF
— Kancelaria Premiera (@PremierRP) August 7, 2024
Since 1972, “honorary benefits” have been granted by the president of Poland’s state Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) to people in its system who have turned 100.
Infor, a legal and economic information service, reports that around 6,000 centenarians currently receive such benefits. The number has been growing over time as Poles’ life expectancy increases (from 71 in 1972 to 78 in 2019). However, the ministry notes that not all centenarians are eligible under the current practice.
To make the system universal and to “ensure certainty and predictability of the legal situation of the oldest part of society…there is a significant need for the right to an honorary benefit…to be directly and clearly regulated in an act of law”, writes the ministry in its justification for the bill.
Parliament has voted in favour of introducing a so-called “widow’s pension” that would allow widows and widowers to combine their pension with their late spouse’s.
The aim is to tackle pension poverty, which affects women in particular https://t.co/jt8gWWUQsB
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 29, 2024
The payments would be granted automatically from the start of next year to people who turn 100 and are already entitled to pensions or disability benefits. Those who are not would be able to apply to receive them.
The payments would only be available for Polish citizens and the amount paid, now set at 6,246.13 zloty, would be indexed using the same rate as for pensions.
The bill introducing the new measures was on Wednesday greenlighted by the government. It now passes to parliament, where the ruling coalition has a majority in both chambers. If approved by MPs, the legislation passes to President Andrzej Duda, who is aligned with the opposition. He can sign it into law or veto it.
Last month, parliament – including the opposition – voted overwhelmingly in favour of a proposal by the minister of family, work and social policy to introduce a so-called “widow’s pension” that would allow widows and widowers to collect not only their own pension but also part of their late spouse’s.
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Main image credit: CDC/Unsplash
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
