Parents and guardians of seriously ill children in Poland could receive an additional 60 days of care allowance each year under legislation that has now been entered into the government’s legislative work programme. The proposed entitlement would sit outside the existing annual limits, meaning some parents could receive allowance for as many as 120 days in a calendar year.
The proposal has been prepared by the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy and would apply when caring for a seriously ill child under the age of 18. The ministry said on 6 October that the project had formally been added to the government’s legislative work programme, moving it further into the lawmaking process after the reform was first announced earlier this year.
It is not yet law. The proposal must still pass through the government’s legislative process, be approved by parliament and signed by the president before it can take effect. The ministry currently expects the new entitlement to begin in 2027, but has not announced a precise commencement date.
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Up to 120 days for some parents
Under existing rules, an insured parent caring for a sick child under 14 can generally receive care allowance for up to 60 days in a calendar year. The standard limit for a sick child over 14 is 14 days, while parents caring for certain children with disabilities aged between 14 and 18 can qualify for up to 30 days.
The proposed 60-day entitlement would be a separate pool, rather than simply increasing the existing limit.
That would mean parents or guardians caring for a seriously ill child under 14 could potentially receive up to 120 days of allowance a year — 60 under the ordinary rules and another 60 under the new provision.
For a seriously ill child with a qualifying disability aged between 14 and 18, the maximum could rise from 30 to 90 days. For a seriously ill child aged over 14 without such a disability determination, it could rise from 14 to 74 days, provided the child has not yet turned 18.
The difference is particularly significant for families with seriously ill teenagers. Under the current system, a parent caring for a 16- or 17-year-old without a qualifying disability determination can face an annual limit of just 14 days regardless of how prolonged the child’s treatment is.
Poland’s Children’s Rights Commissioner has previously argued that families dealing with lengthy diagnostic procedures, hospital treatment and serious illness can be forced to choose between remaining with their child and maintaining their employment and income.
Doctors would determine whether a child qualifies
The government does not intend to create a fixed statutory list of illnesses that automatically qualify a family for the additional allowance.
Instead, the doctor issuing the medical certificate would assess whether the child’s condition meets the threshold, taking into account factors including the seriousness of the illness and the child’s level of independence.
When the reform was first announced in May, Family Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk specifically referred to families of children undergoing cancer treatment or dealing with serious chronic illnesses. Deputy minister Sebastian Gajewski said the government wanted the process to work through the ordinary medical-certification system rather than requiring parents to obtain separate examinations or navigate an additional application procedure.
The distinction is intended to ensure that the additional entitlement is reserved for serious conditions requiring prolonged care rather than ordinary childhood illnesses such as short-term infections.
What would parents be paid?
Care allowance is a social-insurance benefit rather than full salary replacement. Under existing rules, it is paid at 80% of the relevant benefit assessment basis, which for employees is normally calculated using previous earnings after the applicable social-insurance deductions.
The ministry’s latest October announcement does not indicate that the percentage rate would change for the proposed additional days. Specialist reporting on the proposal says the existing 80% rate is expected to remain in place.
Care allowance is financed through Poland’s Social Insurance Fund, with such benefits paid from its sickness-insurance fund. Depending on the employer and number of insured workers, the payment can be administered either by the employer or directly by the Social Insurance Institution, ZUS.
When the ministry presented the reform in May, it estimated the additional measure would cost approximately PLN 140 million a year.
Current limits would remain available
A key part of the proposal is that using the additional entitlement would not eliminate or reduce the family’s ordinary care-allowance limit.
The ministry says the two entitlements would operate independently. A parent could therefore use ordinary care allowance when required and, where the child’s condition qualified as sufficiently serious, use the additional 60-day allowance separately.
Existing annual care-allowance limits are shared rather than being granted separately for every child or every parent. ZUS states that the standard annual limit does not increase simply because a family has several children or because more than one person is entitled to claim.
The proposed additional 60-day provision is intended to address cases where those ordinary limits are exhausted during prolonged treatment.
The reform has progressed further than when ministers first announced it in May, but the legislative process remains at an early stage. No entitlement has yet changed, and parents must continue to use the existing limits until new legislation is passed and enters into force.
