Waiting for the widow's pension. ZUS is not responding and the task is waiting

angora24.pl 1 year ago

Money in a vacuum

Every year, 450 1000 Poles end their journey of life. Most of them, over 80 percent, are people over the age of 60. This shows that death most frequently affects pensioners and pre-retirement people. They leave behind memories, sometimes long and unpaid bills, as well as sad widows and widowers.

It is simply a group that frequently experiences poverty, which confirms regular observation. Many seniors run households on their own, based solely on retirement income. The average benefit is PLN 3.3 thousand. But it is worth noting that the average pension of men is PLN 4.1 thousand, and women only PLN 2.8 1000 (gross value). The death of a man is so more felt due to the fact that the household budget is more depleted. In combination with the fact that men die sooner than women, this means that there are more seniors surviving alone and their financial situation is worse.

This is due to the fact that regulations do not let contributions collected in ZUS accounts to be inherited. The bet does not indicate how much it gains from the death of recipients. However, it can be calculated that if 300 1000 people of retirement age die annually, each of them had PLN 300 1000 in the account of ZUS. Thus, ZUS gains PLN 90 billion on outstanding benefits and the deficiency of the right to inherit. This is more than twice the yearly state budget spending on the 500 plus programme. This money could go to widows and widowers alternatively of being utilized to build office and keep bureaucracy.

That's how Law and Justice cares about seniors. Jury's clear. They have more crucial things to do. The first reading of the civilian task "Renta wwidowia" has just begun. A task to aid seniors and seniors live decently after the death of their spouse. #RentaWdovia pic.twitter.com/lECWNeXXD

— Marek Kacprzak (@MarekKacprzak) July 6, 2023

Public theft

The inability to inherit pension contributions generates strong social responses. You can't be surprised. ZUS pays household pensions to widows and widows, but only if strict conditions are met, which severely restrict access to benefits.

The most crucial thing: the deceased must have a fixed right to a pension (25 percent of men not surviving up to the retirement age!) and a choice must be made – either we choose to supply after a husband or wife (85 percent of the amount paid to them), or we stay on our own. So even if a elder gets a survivor's pension, there'll be no failure of contributions for decades.

In Germany, which is criticized by Kaczyński, you can collect your pension and the deceased. And this is in full amount (only after exceeding the skewed income threshold is paid in a reduced amount).

In fresh years, the number of households run by widows has increased sharply due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, there was a evidence number of deaths – over 500 000, of which 70 percent were over 65. Despite this, the United Right, who claims to care for the most deprived, did not take any action to relieve the lonely seniors. On the contrary.

The collection of signatures under the civilian bill Renta Wdowia continues! ✍🏻
📍Lodz #RentaWdovia Left pic.twitter.com/29O1sUkW5Q

— Martyna Milczarek (@mm_milczarek) March 2, 2023

Frozen bill and coalition plans

In April of that year, 30 organizations began collecting signatures under a draft citizens' bill on the introduction of widow’s pension. The task assumed that a spouse could hold his or her pension and receive an allowance of 50 percent of the deceased spouse's benefit or choose a benefit after the spouse and add half of his or her pension to it. 200,000 signatures rapidly gathered, the task went to the Sejm, but the majority of the parliament decided to transfer it to the Committee on Social Policy and household Affairs.

The solidarity that assessed the task stated that the ‘construction of the widow’s pension described in it to besides much degree disassembles the assumptions of the current pension system, in which the amount of the benefit is to be derived from the amount of the collected and valued contribution’. This free marketplace approach is hard to reconcile, for example, with the request to introduce an internship pension in a guaranteed amount, independent of the sum of contributions collected.

During the election, Left and Civic Coalition promised to introduce a widow's pension that would let widowed seniors to collect part of the pension after the deceased spouse. The bill was addressed by the Sejm to the committee. Representatives of both groups were asked whether they intended to keep their word.

The PO has ensured that their programme is inactive up to date and that ministers will talk soon. It besides confirmed its intention to increase the tax-free amount to PLN 60 thousand. This would mean little budget gross and more expenditure – according to the Left, the widow's pension would cost 14 billion per year.

The Left stated that the widow's pension would supply a average and dignified retirement life after losing her spouse. She added that akin solutions already be in respective another EU countries, specified as the Czech Republic, Germany, Lithuania and Italy.

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