The President's Office informedthat on Friday, August 9, the president Andrzej Duda signed a law introducing the so-called widow's pension. It is to be effective from January 1, 2025, but its payments will not start until July.
Widow's pension signed by the president. New law to come into force
As we have already discussedthe widow's pension is to consist in the combination of widows and widowers pensions with an incomplete survivor's pension after the deceased spouse. What is important, however, is that from 1 July 2025 to 31 December 2026, one benefit will be able to be collected in full, and the other only in the amount of 15%. From 1 January 2027, however, it will increase to 25%.
The act signed by Andrzej Duda also includes several other important provisions. First, the amount of the total benefit cannot exceed three times the minimum pension applicable in a given period. Next, the right to a widow's pension will be granted to people who have reached retirement age – in the case of women, 60 years of age, and men, 65 years of age, as well as those who remain in joint property until the date of death of their spouse and acquire the right to a family pension, if the death occurred no earlier than 5 years before the deceased reached retirement age.
Senators discussed the widow's pension for a long time. However, they accepted it without amendments.
Before the bill could be submitted to the president's desk, it had to be voted on in the SenateOn Wednesday, July 31, 80 senators voted “for” the pension, none against, and one person abstained. However, before the decision was made, lively, long discussions were held on the bill.
According to Deputy Minister of Family Sebastian Gajewski, the introduction of 15% and then 25% of the second benefit will be quite a large amount. For this reason, Piotr Masłowski from Trzecia Droga stated that he will abstain from voting, because from the point of view of the state budget it will be a risky solution. Janina Sagatowska from PIS she also proposed raising the amount of the second benefit to 60 percent and accelerating the start of the amendment, and her party colleague Krzysztof Słoń stated that the widow's pension should not depend on retirement age, but on the length of service. However, the act was adopted without amendments.