National legislation

Tasks in the sphere of social security are exercised by many institutions, including:

• Social Insurance Institution (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych, ZUS) – cash benefits and benefits in kind provided from the social insurance under the disability prevention,
• Agricultural Social Insurance Fund (Kasa Rolniczego Ubezpieczenia Społecznego, KRUS) – payment of cash benefits and benefits in kind within the framework of disability prevention from farmers’ social insurance,
• Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy (Ministerstwo Rodziny, Pracy i Polityki Społecznej, MRPiPS) – benefits in respect of unemployment, in favour of family and social benefits (from social assistance),
• National Health Fund (Narodowy Fundusz Zdrowia, NFZ) – benefits in kind from health insurance,

Many legal instruments govern the legal obligation of insurance against specific social risks and the guarantee of benefits in the event of a given. Such provision has already appeared in the supreme legal act – the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.

The detailed regulations governing individual areas of social security are contained in separate Acts of Parliament, the most important being:
§ Act of 13 October 1998 on the social insurance system (Journal of Laws of 2019 item 300) – the so-called Social Insurance System Act,
§ Act of 17 December 1998 on pensions from the Social Insurance Fund (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 1270, as amended) – the so-called Old-Age Pension Act,
§ Act of 20 April 2004 on the Individual Old-age Pension Accounts and Individual Old-age Pension Protection Accounts (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1808) – the so-called IKE and IKZE Act,
§ Act of 20 April 2004 on the Occupational Pension Programmes (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 850, as amended) – the so-called PPE Act,
§ Act of 4 October 2018 on employee capital pension plans (Journal of Laws of 2018 item 2215, as amended) – the so-called PPK Act,
§ Act of 21 November 2008 on the old-age funded pensions (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 926),
§ Act of 28 August 1997 on the organisation and operation of old-age pension funds (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 1906, as amended),
§ Act of 19 December 2008 on the old-age bridging pensions (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 1924),
§ Act of 25 June 1999 on cash social insurance benefits in respect of sickness and maternity (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 645) – the so-called Sickness and maternity allowance Act,
§ Act of 30 October 2002 on social insurance in respect of accidents at work and occupational diseases (Journal of Laws of 2017, item 2179, as amended) – the so-called Accident Insurance Act,
§ Act of 27 June 2003 on the social pension (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1455),
§ Act of 30 April 2004 on pre-retirement benefits (Journal of Laws of 2017, item 2148),
§ Act of 31 January 2019 on supplementary parental benefit (Journal of Laws, item 303, as amended),
§ Act of 31 July 2019 on supplementary benefit for persons incapable of independent existence (Journal of Laws, item 1622),
§ Act of 23 January 2008 on the transfer of old-age pensions entitlements of European Union civil servants (Journal of Laws no. 47, item 274, as amended).

Health care benefits are granted pursuant to:
§ Act of 27 August 2004 on health care benefits financed by public funds (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1373, as amended) – the so-called Health Care Act,

Benefits in respect of unemployment are granted pursuant to:
§ Act of 20 April 2004 on employment promotion and labour market institutions (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1482).

Benefits from the social insurance of farmers are granted pursuant to:
§ Act of 20 December 1990 on the social insurance of farmers (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 299) – the so-called Agricultural Insurance Act.

Social assistance benefits are granted pursuant to:
§ Act of 12 March 2004 on social assistance (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1507, as amended).

Benefits in favour of family are granted pursuant to:
§ Act of 11 February 2016 on state aid in bringing up children (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 2134, as amended).

The “Good Start” benefit is granted pursuant to:
§ Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 30 May 2018 on detailed conditions for the implementation of the government programme Good start (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 1061, as amended).

Family benefits are granted pursuant to:
§ Act of 28 November 2003 on family benefits (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 2220, as amended),

Carer’s allowance is granted on the basis of:
§ Act of 4 April 2014 on the establishment and payment of allowances for carers (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 2092).

Benefits from the Maintenance Fund are granted pursuant to:
§ Act of 7 September 2007 on assistance for persons entitled to a maintenance payment (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 670).

Vocational and social rehabilitation and the employment of disabled persons is carried out pursuant to:
§ Act of 27 August 1997 on the vocational and social rehabilitation and employment of disabled persons (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1172).

Benefits from the military pension scheme are granted pursuant to:
§ Act of 10 December 1993 on the pension provision of professional soldiers and their families (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 289).

Benefits from the system of pension provision for officers are granted pursuant to:
§ Act of 18 February 1994 on pension provision for officers of the Police, the Internal Security Agency, the Foreign Intelligence Agency, the Military Counterintelligence Service, the Military Intelligence Service, the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Border Guard, the Government Protection Bureau, the State Fire Service, and the Prison Service and their families (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 288, as amended).

Benefits from the system of social provision for judges, in particular, the rules under which the judges are retired are described in:
§ Act of 27 July 2001 – Law on the system of common courts (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 52),
§ Regulation of the Minister of Justice of 21 June 2018 on retired judges’ and retired judges’ family members’ emoluments and dates of transferring social insurance contributions to the Social Insurance Institution (Journal of Laws, item 1258).

Benefits from the system of social provision for prosecutors, in particular, the rules under which the prosecutors are retired are described in:
§ Act of 28 January 2016 – Law on the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 740),
§ Act of 27 July 2001 – Law on the system of common courts (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 52).