The flagship programme of the Law and Justice government “Family 500+”, “Good Start”, providing aid for establishing and managing care facilities for the youngest children, extending the scope and increasing the attractiveness of the Large Family Card, creating a positive image of large families, and finally introducing a number of facilitating measures for families in the form of digital services in Poland - these are just some examples of the measures introduced by the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy and the Law and Justice government which help Polish families to live more comfortably today than they did four years ago.

We would like to present a short guide to the measures implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy aimed to benefit Polish families.

“Family 500+” - today for each child

“Family 500+” is systemic benefit programme aiding Polish families introduced to improve their financial standing and to create conditions which make it easier to decide to extend the family.

• Since the beginning of the implementation of the programme, i.e. since April 2016, families have received over PLN 72.5 billion (data as at the end of May 2019, excluding service costs).
• Until recently, support has been provided to 3.6 million children under 18 spanning over 2.3 million families.
• Since July 2019, all children under 18 years of age have been included in the “Family 500+” programme. The income criterion under the benefit programme has been abolished. The Polish will provide financial support to a total of 6.8 million of our children in 4.4 million families.
• Beginning at 2020, we will be spending approximately PLN 41 billion annually on the Family 500+ programme.

Returning to school is now easier

The “Good Start” Programme launched in 2018, is an investment in the education of Polish children and a financial support for families in order to offset the expenses incurred at the beginning of the school year. Moreover, the programme helps to provide equal opportunities, independent from the cultural, social and material standing of families.

The total amount of funding issued under the “Good Start” programme in 2018 amounted to PLN 1.32 billion and covered 4.4 million children (estimated at the end of 2018).

Please also note that considerable number of changes lie ahead of us this year, as the scope of persons entitled to receive benefit will expand to include adults and post-secondary school students. The changes shall enter into force in August.

More care facilities for the youngest children

“Toddler +” is a programme implemented in support of the development of childcare institutions - nurseries, children's clubs and day carers. These measures are implemented in order to allow the parents to reconcile family and professional life in peace, without having to worry about a place for the child in a nursery, for instance.

Since 2018, the total budget of the “Toddler+” programme has been tripled to PLN 450 million, which has directly translated to extending the network of nurseries and children's clubs. The existing legislation made it particularly difficult to establish nurseries. Due to the changes introduced by the so-called nursery law, it is now easier to set up and run a nursery, while maintaining high standards of childcare.

• An increasing number of parents can now reconcile parenthood with professional careers as the number of places in nurseries continues to increase due to the “Toddler+” programme.
• By the end of 2018, there were approximately 146,000 childcare places in Poland. That translates to a 74% increase in relation to 2015.
• Due to the programme, by the end of 2019 27.6 thousand new care places for children under 3 years of age will be established in Poland - including nurseries, children's clubs and day carers. In 2015, 2.5 thousand care facilities were established under “Toddler+”, i.e. 10 times less than today.
• The indicator reflecting the availability of childcare institutions for children under 3 years of age in Poland (including nannies) amounted to 19.4% at the end of 2018, which means an increase of over 60% in relation to 2015. In 2019, the indicator will amount to 24.9%
• In Poland, 38% of municipalities currently have nurseries or children's clubs. In 2015, this indicator equalled 26%.

The Large Family Card is finally attractive

We are developing the Large Family Card as a method for appreciating the effort required to bring up an extended family, but also to make the daily life easier for large families. The Large Family Card is a system of discounts and additional rights granted to multi-child families by public institutions as well as private businesses. Since 2018, the Large Family Card is also available as a mobile application, and since 2019, the Large Family Card is also granted to parents who have already raised three or more children.

• Today, 783.5 thousand families hold the Large Family Card.
• Over 2.6 million people have an active traditional card - which is 3 times more than in 2015 (0.87 million), while an active electronic card is held by over 506 thousand people.
• 516,000 parents who applied for the BFC under the regulations applicable from 1 January 2019.
• 261.5 thousand families use the card in accordance with the rules applicable from 1 January 2019.
• The number of BFC partners has increased from 1.2 thousand in 2015 to 5.6 thousand at present. They offer discounts in approximately 23 thousand locations. The BFC has been extended to include partners expected by large families; in addition, the discounts on petrol have also increased. At the end of 2015, the number of partners under the BFC amounted to only 1.2 thousand, and discounts were only applicable in 5 thousand spots.

Data as at 9 July 2019.

Increased expenditures on family policy

Expenditures on family policy have significantly increased in recent years. In 2015, the funding for family support amounted to 1.78% of GDP and increased to 3.11% by 2017. Covering all children with benefits under the “Family 500+” programme shall cause an increase in the state budget expenditures in support of families to approximately 4%. of GDP by 2020. 

The data gathered by Eurostat shows that the highest share of expenditures on family benefits (in relation to total expenditures on other social programmes) was recorded in Luxembourg. In 2016, the share exceeded 15% of total expenditures on social benefits offered by the state. The next positions were taken by Estonia and Poland. According to Eurostat, family benefits constituted 13% of all expenditures on social benefits. That is well above the EU average of 9%.

It's a fact - the birth rate in Poland is increasing

One of the objectives of the “Family 500+” Programme is to improve the demographic situation. The birth rate in 2015 amounted to only 1.29. Expanding the network of nurseries and children's clubs under the “Toddler+” programme also has a positive influence on the decision to have children.

• In 2016, the number of births amounted to 382 thousand and thus exceeded the number of births in the preceding year by 13 thousand, while in 2017, 402 thousand children were born, which means an increase of 20 thousand.
• Although the total number of births in 2018 amounted to 388.2 thousand, optimistic forecast of the Central Statistical Office expected 360.2 thousand births in 2018.
• In 2017, the birth rate for the entire country amounted to 1.45, i.e. a 12.4% increase in relation to the data collected two years prior. It must be pointed out, that this phenomenon occurs at a time when the number of women of childbearing age has fallen since 2000. Similar birth rate was last recorded in the year 1997 (1.47).
• The birth rate in 2018 amounted to approx. 1.44. The birth rate indicator continued to remain on that relatively high level in comparison to the period between 1998-2015.

That is the highest birth rate in 20 years.

Families now have a better standard of living

Broadly understood investment in families has improved the quality of life of Polish families. Families are very effective at spending the funds obtained from the “Family 500+” programme - they tend to invest in education, recreation and development of their children. In 2016-2017, a change in the dynamics and structure of consumption was observed, especially in large families. Despite an increase in expenditures in almost all categories in relation to 2014-2015, the share of expenditures on food and transportation has been declining, with a simultaneous increase in flexible expenditures on leisure and culture, furnishing, education, eating out and expenditures for accommodation outside of the family homes.

• Only 5 per thousand of benefits have been converted to payments in kind, due to improper spending of funds.
• Due to the “Family 500+” programme, families can afford to invest more funds in child development - such as participating in extracurricular activities, taking summer and winter holidays, taking care of their children's health. Children's participation in such activities facilitates their development and helps to build the so-called social capital, which will result in a future influx of employees with broad competences, including social competences.
• The implementation of the “Family 500+” Programme has contributed to an increased number of children and youth attending extracurricular education institutions (community centres, youth centres, etc.). Between the school year 2015/2016 and 2017/2018, the percentage rate of participants in these forms of education has increased by almost 10%.

 

We are building a digital Poland together with families

Today, families can apply for all benefits on-line: “Good start”, “Family 500+”, family benefits and alimony fund.
Having the option to take care of administrative matters in the comfort of their homes and without the need to show up in person helps parents to save time.

• Last year, every second application for the “Good Start” benefit was submitted via e-mail.
• This year, after just a week, over 1/3rd of families have already applied for the “Family 500+” benefit.

Since 2018, the Large Family Card has been available as an application on mobile devices. 
Due to the introduced changes, the Large Family Card has become more friendly and attractive for its users.

• The mobile BFC card is currently used by 516 thousand people (the number of active cards as at 9 July 2019).

From 1 December 2018, doctors issue medical certificates only in electronic form. 
We respect the time of patients. The e-certificates make it possible for parents who take a sick leave to care for an ill child to stay home rather than personally go to the place of work to hand in the certificate. In addition, the patients are no longer required to remember their employers NIP (tax identification number) when requesting a doctor's certificate.

• Only 0.3% of all certificates are now issued on paper.

A new approach to relations between the citizens and the administrative authorities; the administration does not require paper certificates, as the databases contain all the required information. It allows to transition to a “culture of declarations” (the citizen declares and does not need to bring a certificate).