Widow’s pension. There is no money for the Left’s project

During the election campaign, the Left devoted a lot of attention to widows’ pensions. This is a type of retirement security for widowed seniors. Currently, in the event of the death of a spouse, the other partner either retains his or her own pension or decides to receive 85%. pension of the deceased spouse (survivor’s pension). The left believes that this is unfair and has prepared – in cooperation with the All-Poland Agreement of Trade Unions (OPZZ) – another mechanism. Under the bill, a widow or widower could keep his or her pension and half of the deceased spouse’s benefit, or the entire pension of his or her husband or wife and half of his or her pension.

Widow’s pension. What about the Left’s proposal?

It would cost approximately PLN 13 billion annually. However, the 2024 budget does not guarantee separate money for this purpose – reports Business Insider Polska.

Funds for achieving this goal are not provided for in the financial plan of the Social Insurance Fund or in the specific reserves, which guarantee funds for some projects of the new government (e.g. financing in vitro treatments).

This does not mean that widow’s pensions will never appear in our system, but the earliest this will happen is in 2025. Unless the government decides to amend the budget act itself. According to Oskar Sobolewski, a pension and labor market expert and founder of the Pension Debate initiative, this is possible.

– Possible changes to the budget act must also be taken into account, especially since in the case in question the risk of President Andrzej Duda vetoing the amendment is low. This would be a solution long-awaited by many seniors, with a positive social impact. For now, however, everything indicates that beneficiaries will have to wait at least until 2025, Sobolewski said.

A widow’s pension was not provided for in the coalition agreement.