In March, almost 438,000 so -called penny pensions were paid, i.e. below the minimum benefit, including about half a thousand not exceeding PLN 10 – according to the data of the Social Insurance Institution presented at the meeting of the Senior Policy Committee.
The Senior Policy Committee listened to information from the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy, the Social Insurance Institution and the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund regarding the scale and forecasts of the phenomenon of the so -called pensions penny in Poland.
To obtain a minimum pension (PLN 1878.91 gross per month), you need to have adequate seniority – 20 years in women, 25 years old. If there is no such internship, on the basis of the capital collected until the retirement of ZUSa monthly benefit is calculated. If there were few contributions paid (no employment or lack of a job or mandate contract during work), pensions may be even several zlotys or even in extreme cases several grades.
Penny pensions in Poland
During the discussion, the deputy director of the Social Insurance Department at MRPiPS Sebastian Kamiński emphasized that the causes of the phenomenon of penny pensions are of a heterogeneous nature.
– In some cases, they are the result of elections taken by the recipients during their professional activity, in others they are a consequence of the conditions of the labor market of system transformation time – he noted. He added that this is also influenced by the assumption that each insured in the new pension system receives a benefit regardless of the amount of retirement – he said.
He also noted that this problem is complex, because people receiving penny pensions are also entitled to a thirteenth and fourteenth pension, so taking away the benefit from these people “could be unacceptable”. – I think that here you need to consider various variants, but you also need to strive to make these benefits higher – he added.
Earlier, it was proposed to pay very low pensions in a different form than every month – for example, a one -time payment of all accumulated capital or every year.
Alarming growth
The ZUS representative announced that the number of penny pensions has increased since 2011 from 23.9 thousand. up to 433.1 thous. In 2024, in 2011, they accounted for 4.2 percent. of all of the newly system pensions (since 1999), but currently it is 9.9 percent.
According to the information presented by ZUS, the number of pensions in the amount lower than the minimum was 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 at the level of about PLN 1,200.
– These pensions are strictly penny, i.e. up to PLN 10, about half a thousand – noted the ZUS representative. She added that in March two two -year pensions were also paid. One of them is downloaded by a woman who worked one day and the other by a man who worked a month.
The director of the Department of Pension Benefits at ZUS Bartosz Gaca added that the average cost of servicing the case for retirement and disability benefit according to data for 2024 was about PLN 188. The average cost of payment of one retirement and disability benefit in 2024 amounted to PLN 2.71, including the costs of transferring benefits. In the case of the cost of payment of the benefit via postal transfer, it amounted to PLN 10.27.
Deputy director of the Bureau of Benefits of the Agricultural Social Insurance Office Katarzyna Kluczyńska announced that the average farmer, obtaining the right to a pension, has a 29 -year -old retirement internship. – For this period, the amount of pension is 2029.22 zlotys. 91 percent Our pensioners receive benefits in the amount higher than the lowest, 5 percent. In an amount equal to the lowest, and only 4 percent In an amount lower than the lowest – she added.
An important social problem
Chairwoman of the Main Board of the Polish Association of Pensioners and Invalids Dr. Elżbieta Ostrowska emphasized that penny pensions are an important social problem.
According to her, an obstacle is a system that allows people receiving pensions lower than the minimum arriving. She added, however, that the problem affected are primarily people who took up work during the system transformation.
As she said, during the period of transformation, obtaining an employment contract often limited with a miracle. – People got any occupation, also in black, in order to just earn a living, to support the family. Let's be aware of this, before we said that they deserved it themselves, they earned it themselves – she added.
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