We realise that it is parents of the youngest children who require the special state support in taking care of their children. We must create the appropriate conditions for them so as to enable them – if they only want to – to take up employment. Reconciling professional and family duties may be a challenge, particularly when children are still very young – says Minister Marlena Maląg.

These words summarise what was happening in the family policy in 2022. The Ministry of Family and Social Policy’s activities were largely devoted to new support instruments dedicated to parents of the youngest children.

• In January 2022, Family Care Capital entered into force. It means even PLN 12 thousand for the second and each subsequent child aged between 12 and 35 months, granted regardless of income. Parents decide on their own what they spend additional funds on. In 2022, about 615 thousand children will make use of family care capital and the amount of support is about PLN 3.1 billion.
• From April 2022, it is possible to submit applications for the government co-financing for a stay in a nursery, children’s club or day-care provider which is granted for those children who are not covered by family care capital. It is even PLN 400 per month, which goes directly to an institution. In 2022, about 110 thousand children are to make use of the support.
• In turn, on the last day of November 2022, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Minister Marlena Maląg announced changes in the new edition of the Toddler+ programme. Changes which are to contribute to removing „white spots”, i.e. municipalities where there is no single nursery or children’s club, from the map of Poland.

We are definitely increasing the financing for the programme – for its functioning, we will allocate PLN 5.5 billion, thanks to which more than 100 thousand new places of care for children may be created. Each of these created places will receive the co-financing for its functioning for 36 months – specifies the Minister of Family.

Changes in the Toddler+ programme

The new edition of the programme means the organisation and implementation of nationwide clear criteria for supporting nursery care.

• The funds will be distributed according to an algorithm which assumes that municipalities will receive a specific pool of funds to be used for creating places of care in accordance with their needs resulting from statistics.
• As part of the new version of the programme, it will be possible to obtain the co-financing for creating new places of care in a nursery, children’s club and day-care provider. These places can be created in already existing institutions or in new institutions.
• In the case of construction or purchase of a real property where the institution will be located, the municipality may receive PLN 35,862 of co-financing per one place of care (without VAT costs). In the case of adaptation and equipping of rooms, the co-financing will amount to PLN 12,410 per place. The support in this amount – PLN 12,410 – may also be expected by other entities, not only local governments, i.e. public institutions, natural persons, legal persons and non-corporate organisational units.
• The municipality will have three years to create new places, while an entity other than a local government unit – 2 years. This gives a lot of flexibility.

Thanks to the new rules, we reach every municipality in Poland and offer the financial support to every interested local government. Our goal is that every municipality should have at least one nursery, children’s club or day-care provider for children under 3 years of age. With the new edition of the programme, this goal is becoming increasingly real – says the Minister of Family and Social Policy Marlena Maląg.

Toddler+ Programme

The Toddler programme has been implemented since 2011, but it gathered momentum during the rule of the United Right. In 2018, the co-financing for creating new and maintaining already existing places of care for the youngest children was almost tripled – from PLN 151 million to PLN 450 million a year – thanks to which the availability of places in nurseries and children’s clubs increased significantly.

Since 2016, more than 140 thousand places of care for toddlers have been created. At the end of 2015, there were fewer than 3 thousand institutions that offered only 84 thousand places of care. Today, there are more than 8 thousand nurseries and children’s clubs, with more than 228 thousand places of care for toddlers.

Behind these figures, there are increased funds for the functioning of the programme. In the years 2016-2021, the United Right government allocated about PLN 2.1 billion for this purpose. Now, expenses for the programme will increase more than twice, to the amount of PLN 5.5 billion. The new edition of the Toddler+ programme is part of the Polish Demographic Strategy 2040, recently adopted by the Council of Ministers.

Family policy of the United Right government

The development of services dedicated to the family is one of the elements of the family policy pursued by the Law and Justice government. This is a response to the needs of parents, particularly those who want to combine raising children with work.

The role of the state is to support parents in these activities. We have changed the optics of the state policy for families. For 7 years, we have been clearly stressing the need to invest in the family – says Minister Marlena Maląg.

The state policy for families is built on four pillars

The first one is the financial support of families. For programmes implementing this objective – Family 500+, Good Start, Family Care Capital, co-financing for nursery care – the government has already allocated PLN 215 billion in total.

The second pillar is the development of services dedicated to families. The Large Family Card means more than 31 thousand points with discounts for large families, and the already mentioned Toddler+ is a systematically growing network of nurseries and children’s clubs

The development and creation of better conditions in the labour market is the third pillar of the state policy for families. From January 2023, the minimum salary will amount to PLN 3,490, and from July 2023 it will increase to PLN 3,600. The situation in the labour market is stable. The registered unemployment rate this November was 5.1% while at the end of 2015 it was 9.7%.

We are developing flexible forms of employment so as to make it easier, especially for women, to return to the labour market after maternity leave. The Sejm has already adopted the Act on remote work. The Ministry of Family and Social Policy also developed a draft regulation on professional activity.

The fourth pillar means the values on which the state policy for families is built. This support cannot be treated as alms. Our programmes are not of a welfare nature but of a social one, and many of them – Family 500+, Good Start, Family Care Capital, Co-financing for a stay in nurseries – are new family-oriented programmes launched during our rule. Others – such as Toddler+ or the Large Family Card – have been developed by us in the last 7 years so as to really respond to social needs – says the Minister of Family.

This means much higher outlays on activities addressed to families. Only in 2022, nearly PLN 86 billion was allocated for the family policy. For comparison, in 2015 it was about PLN 32 billion.

We are not talking about expenses, we are talking about investing in the future of Poland, in human capital – says Minister Marlena Maląg.