ZUS’s tasks

The Social Insurance Institution:

• establishes entitlements to:
  • old-age pensions,
  • disability pensions,
  • survivors’ pensions,
  • child-care benefit,
  • 'Good Start' benefit,
  • family care capital,
  • co-financing of the child's stay in a nursery, children's club or at a day carer,
  • sickness allowances,
  • maternity allowances,
  • care allowances,
  • compensatory allowances,
  • rehabilitation benefits,
  • funeral grants,
• pays the benefits for which it has established entitlement,
• issues decisions required to establish entitlement to social insurance benefits, other benefits payable by ZUS and for non-insurance purposes,
• controls the correctness of certifying temporary incapacity for work,
• authorises doctors to issue medical certificates of temporary incapacity for work, and revokes such authorisations if there is evidence of irregularities,
• performs disability pension prevention tasks, including medical rehabilitation and accident prevention,
• establishes the social insurance obligation, assesses and collects social insurance contributions,
• credits part of the old-age pension contribution to the insured person's account and the remaining part to a sub-account, unless the insured person has made a declaration to transfer part of the contribution to an Open Pension Fund (otwarty fundusz emerytalny, OFE), in which case ZUS divides the part allocated to the sub-account and sends the statutory amount to the appropriate fund,
• distributes and pays out to beneficiaries the funds credited to the sub-accounts of insured persons,
• collects and settles the health insurance contribution and transfers it to the National Health Fund (NFZ),
• collects a contribution to the Labour Fund (Fundusz Pracy, FP) and the Solidarity Fund (Fundusz Solidarnościowy,FS) and transfers it to the Ministry of Family and Social Policy,
• collects the contribution for the Fund of Guaranteed Employee Benefits (Fundusz Gwarantowanych Świadczeń Pracowniczych, FGŚP),
• collects and accounts for the contribution to the Bridging Pensions' Fund (Fundusz Emerytur Pomostowych, FEP),
• keeps accounts of contribution payers and credits contributions to the insured persons' individual accounts,
• checks whether the contribution payers pay the compulsory contributions and properly perform the tasks imposed on them by law (such as the payment of various allowances), and enforces dues in respect of social insurance and health insurance contributions,
• keeps the insured person' individual accounts with sub-accounts and the Insured Persons' Central Register,
• keeps the Central Register of Open Pension Funds’ Members,
• keeps the contribution payers' records and the Contribution Payers' Central Register,
• administers the financial resources of the Social Insurance Fund and the Maintenance Fund,
• manages the Demographic Reserve Fund (Fundusz Rezerwy Demograficznej, FRD),
• on behalf of pensioners, transfers personal income tax to tax offices and health insurance contributions to the National Health Fund,
• grants and pays social pensions,
• grants and pays pre-retirement benefits,
• disseminates knowledge about social insurance in Poland, implements its own educational initiatives for schoolchildren and partnership projects for students;
• cooperates with government administration bodies, with foreign insurance institutions and international organisations,
• plays a role of a competent institution and a liaison body in implementation of international conventions and agreements in the field of social insurance, and handles benefits provided in accordance with these conventions and agreements,
• plays a role of a competent institution and a liaison institution in the field of the EU coordination of social security systems in the area covered by ZUS competence (universal insurance).

The range of tasks performed by ZUS makes it one of the largest public institutions in Poland. On the one hand, it performs the functions of a financial institution, e.g. collecting contributions, paying benefits and transferring taxes on behalf of pensioners. On the other hand, it strives to be an institution that gives its customers – insured persons, beneficiaries and contribution payers – a sense of security and provides efficient, friendly and reliable services.