Widows and widowers will be able to collect their retirement and survivors' pension after their deceased spouse – this is what the amendment to the Act on Pensions and Annuities from the Social Insurance Fund and Certain Other Acts signed on Friday by President Andrzej Duda assumes.
The second benefit will be paid from July 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026, at 15 percent, and from January 1, 2027, at 25 percent, the amendment assumes. The limit for the sum of both benefits has been set at three times the minimum pensions.
Who is entitled to widow's pension?
Widows and widowers who were in a marital community until the death of their spouse and reached the general retirement age are to be entitled to a widow's pension. Another condition is that the spouse's death did not occur earlier than five years before reaching the general retirement age.
The amendment is intended to improve the economic situation of an elderly person after the death of a spouse. Currently, in the event of a conflict of rights to retirement and disability benefits, only one of them can be collected. This means that widowers can keep their retirement pension or give it up and choose a survivor's pension after the deceased.
Initially, the civic project assumed that widowers could keep their benefits and increase them by 50 percent of the survivor's pension after the deceased spouse or – if such a variant was more beneficial – receive the survivor's pension after the deceased spouse and 50 percent of their benefit. The authors of the civic project also wanted the amount of benefits received to be no higher than three times the value of the average pension in Poland. The civic project was signed by over 200 thousand people.
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