An additional PLN 150 to your pension – what is happening with this project?
Seniors are impatiently waiting for the presidential project “A decent retirement” to come into force. This is a group that bears the consequences of the fight between the two most important centers of power.
The author of the “Dignified Retirement” project is President Karol Nawrocki. If it came into force, it could bring a guaranteed increase of PLN 150 gross to the poorest seniors.
“Poland in the 21st century deserves the lowest pension to be at least PLN 2,000, and this project is aimed at this,” explained President Karol Nawrocki, publicly signing the draft legislative initiative in November 2025.
Assumptions of “A Decent Retirement”. More for women and the poorest seniors
The increase would also cover the 13th and 14th pensions, and its amount would be guaranteed by law. If the act came into force quickly, in 2026 the minimum pension would be approximately PLN 2,030. And from March 1, 2026, it amounts to PLN 1,978.49 gross – approximately PLN 1,800.43 net “on hand” after deducting the health insurance contribution.
The changes to the pension system proposed by the president also assumed that the government would be obliged to review the indicator every three years to adjust it to the cost of living. This was supposed to be a way to provide seniors with long-term financial stability.
The biggest beneficiaries of Karol Nawrocki’s project would be people receiving the minimum pension, women and seniors with short work experience – up to the amount of approximately PLN 4,000. PLN gross. For them, the new mechanism means a faster increase in benefits than before.
But the president’s proposal has not yet entered into force, which does not mean that it has completely failed.
Does the parliamentary freezer work? State budget for 2027
According to the Chancellery of the President, the draft bill on a decent pension has been placed in the parliamentary freezer. This is a colloquial term for Polish parliamentary practice, which involves delaying the processing of draft bills. The Marshal of the Sejm does not refer them to the deputies for discussion.
– No presidential bill is in the freezer – denied the Speaker of the Sejm, Włodzimierz Czarzasty, during one of the March press conferences. He explained that the Sejm would not proceed with “populist laws” without financial security.
– I will say it again, because it is probably an important matter. If the project does not have financial security and costs PLN 100 billion annually, there will be no situation in which the financial justification for the project will say: “let the government find money for it,” the Marshal noted in March.
The project raises concerns of the Ministry of Finance and the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) due to the very high burden on the state budget and a clear flattening of the amount of benefits. The idea is to reduce the differences between short and long work experience.
August is a time of intense work at the Ministry of Finance on the state budget for 2027. The Council of Ministers has a constitutional obligation to submit to the Sejm a draft budget act together with a justification until September 30.
It seems that, just like in 2026, also in 2027 seniors will have to be satisfied with percentage indexation. According to government forecasts, it will be only 3.48%. On March 1, 2027, the lowest pension will increase by only PLN 68.85 – to PLN 2,047.34 gross.
