More than 400 thousand Poles with pension below the minimum. ZUS pays 2 groszy to some

Pensions groszy, so pension benefits below the minimum are received by about 437.9 thousand people. The average amount of such a pension is around PLN 1,200 - according to information from ZUS presented on Wednesday during the Sejm session Commission for Senior Policy.

The Senior Policy Committee heard information from the Minister Family, Labor and Social Policy, President of the Social Insurance Institution and President of the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund on the scale and forecasts of the phenomenon so-called penny pensions in Poland.

During the discussion, the deputy director of the Insurance Department Social Affairs at the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy, Sebastian Kamiński emphasized that the causes of the the phenomenon of penny pensions is of a heterogeneous nature. "In some In some cases, they are the result of choices made by beneficiaries in during their professional activity, in others they are a consequence of market conditions work during the system transformation period," he noted. He added that this is influenced also the assumption that every insured person in the new system pension, regardless of the amount of the pension, receives a benefit.

He also noted that this problem is complex because people those receiving penny pensions are also entitled to a thirteenth and fourteenth pension pension, therefore taking away the benefit from these people "could be unacceptable". "I think that here we need to consider different options, but We must also strive to ensure that these benefits are higher," he added.

The ZUS representative informed that the number of penny pensions increased from 23.9 thousand in 2011 to 433.1 thousand in 2024. In 2011 they constituted 4.2 percent of all new system pensions, while currently is 9.9 percent

According to the information provided by ZUS in March, the number pensions lower than the minimum amount stood at 437.9 thousand. About 77 percent of them were collected by women, and men about 23 percent. The average amount of such a pension is around PLN 1,200. "These pensions strictly in pennies, i.e. up to 10 zlotys, there are about half a thousand" - the ZUS representative noted. She added that two additional payments were also made in March two-penny pensions. One of them is received by a woman who worked for one day and the other by a man who worked for a month.

Director of the Department of Pension and Annuity Benefits at ZUS Bartosza Gaca added that the average cost of handling a case for benefits pension according to data for 2024, amounted to about PLN 188. The average the cost of paying one pension benefit in 2024 amounted to PLN 2.71 including the costs of transferring benefits. In the case of the cost benefit payment via postal order amounted to PLN 10.27.

Deputy Director of the Benefits Office of the Agricultural Funds Headquarters Social Insurance Katarzyna Kluczyńska informed that the average A farmer who obtains the right to a pension has a retirement period of 29 years. "For such a period, the amount of the pension is PLN 2,029.22. 91 percent of our pensioners receives benefits in an amount higher than the minimum, 5 percent in an amount equal to the lowest, and only 4 percent in an amount lower than the lowest," she added.

Chairwoman of the main board of the Polish Association of Retirees Pensioners and Invalids, Dr. Elżbieta Ostrowska emphasized that penny pensions are a significant social problem. According to her, the obstacle is the system that allows the number of people receiving pensions lower than the minimum to increase. She added, however, that the problem primarily affects people who took up jobs during the systemic transformation. As she said, in in the period of change, obtaining an employment contract often limited with a miracle. "People they took up any job, even illegally, just to to earn a living, to support a family. Let's be aware of this before we say, that they deserved it, they worked for it," she added. (PAP)

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