Background information

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. As a result of Russian aggression, many Ukrainian refugees fled to Poland.

On 12 March 2022, the special act regarding Ukrainian refugees (Dz.U. 2022 poz. 583) entered into force, with effect from 24 February 2022. Its aim is to provide assistance to Ukrainians escaping the territory of Ukraine due to armed conflict.

Content of measure

All Ukrainian citizens that entered Poland on or after 24 February 2022 and whose stay on the territory of the Republic of Poland is legalised are entitled to many social benefits. Those include:

• family benefits (family allowance, care benefits and one-time childbirth allowance),
• parental benefit equal to the monthly amount of PLN 500 (approx. €110) per child,
• benefits "for a good start" equal to the amount of a one-time payment of PLN 300 (approx. €65) for each Ukrainian refugee;
• family care capital, equal to the amount of up to PLN 12,000 (approx. €2,610) for the second and each subsequent child;
• co-financing of the fee for the child's stay in a kindergarten, children's club or day-care provider equal to the amount of up to PLN 400 per month (approx. €85).

Some of the above-mentioned beneficiaries will be entitled, provided that the citizen of Ukraine lives with children on the territory of Poland. The total budget estimate is PLN 2,280,000,000 (approx. €10,488,000,000).

Use of measure

As of February 2023, refugees from Ukraine are still entitled to receive all the benefits described in the case. However, full data on the number of their beneficiaries is not available.

According to the Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych (Social Insurance Institution, ZUS), 440,000 refugees from Ukraine were entitled to parental benefit for the period May 2022 to May 2023. Meanwhile, 18,000 people were granted family care capital for the same period. However, in October 2022, ZUS reported that around 80,000 Ukrainians had already lost their entitlement to the above two benefits because they had left Poland for more than 30 days.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Does not apply to businesses	Children (minors) Parents Migrants or refugees

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Company / Companies Local / regional government Public support service providers	Local funds National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

Unknown.

Views and reactions

Unknown.

Sources

• 07 March 2022: Rządowy projekt ustawy o pomocy obywatelom Ukrainy w związku z konfliktem zbrojnym na terytorium tego państwa (orka.sejm.gov.pl)
• 12 March 2022: Ustawa z dnia 12 marca 2022 r. o pomocy obywatelom Ukrainy w związku z konfliktem zbrojnym na terytorium tego państwa (isap.sejm.gov.pl)
• 23 October 2022: Ukrainians massively lose the right to 500 plus. ZUS receives notifications about their departures (www.money.pl)