Polish minister insists child benefits election pledge will be honoured
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
27.11.2015 13:15
Poland's minister of family, labour and social policy has claimed that a programme to increase child allowance will be launched on 1 April 2016.
Minister of Family, Labour and Social policy Elżbieta Rafalska. Photo: Polish Radio
The Law and Justice party, which won the 25 October general election, had pledged in its election campaign to provide PLN 500 for every second and subsequent child.
Minister Elżbieta Rafalska told Polish Radio on Friday that the party is currently clarifying legal solutions that will enable the payments to be made, most likely directly into the recipients' bank accounts.
“This is a large and important project, and the financial implications are huge,” she reflected.
Meanwhile, Rafalska dismissed the notion that wealthy families will not be included in the programme, after Prime Minister Beata Szydło indicated earlier this week that not every family might receive the benefits.
The policy is aimed at addressing Poland's low birth rate. The previous centrist government, led by Civic Platform (PO), had raised the retirement age to 67 for both sexes (from 65 for men and 60 for women) amid claims that Poland's demographic crisis would create problems in covering pensions.
The ratio of Polish workers to pensioners is currently at 3:1, but experts have forecast thay by 2040 it may well be 2:1, and by 2060 1:1.
Law and Justice wants to scrap the raised retirement age, and compensate by providing larger sums of child allowance. (nh/rk)