ZUS Compensation & Pension Increase 2026 | PLN 64k & +PLN 1200 Boost

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The problem of pensioners covered by the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment of June 4, 2024 – the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy has prepared a draft special conversion act

On June 5, 2025, it appeared in the list of legislative works of the Council of Ministers draft act on determining the amount of pensions from the Social Insurance Fund for persons who retired by June 6, 2012 on the terms applicable to persons born before January 1, 1949. (project number on the list: UD204) which is to guarantee the right to re-determine the amount of the general pension, but only for some pensioners covered by the personal scope of the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment of June 4, 2024. (reference number SK 140/20). In the content of the project, its justification, as well as in the RIA (i.e. the regulatory impact assessment attached to the project) – at no point did the ministry directly refer to the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal of June 2024. However, it was only mentioned that the proposed regulations “have in mind the protection of the principle of social justice and the previous jurisprudence of the Constitutional Tribunal.” Due to the above (and especially the fact that, according to the draft regulation, not all pensioners affected by the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment of June 4, 2024 would be covered) – there were justified doubts as to whether this was really the long-awaited special conversion act that referred to the above-mentioned. judgment of the Court.

However, the above doubts were completely dispelled by the response of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy of March 14, 2025 (reference number DUS-II.070.12.2025.MDe) to the Ombudsman’s request regarding the failure to publish the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment favorable to retirees, in which the ministry directly indicated that the information published in the list of legislative and program works of the Council of Ministers (at that stage) the assumption of a draft act on determining the amount of pensions from the Social Insurance Fund for persons who retired by June 6, 2012 on the terms applicable to persons born before January 1, 1949. (project number in the list: UD204) – are intended to be a solution to the problem of injured pensioners (from births other than 1953) in the context of the Constitutional Tribunal’s decision of June 4, 2024. As the Ministry admitted, this is an issue momentousa „The purpose of the proposed act is to regulate the issue of the application of Art. 25 section 1b of the Pension Act (…) in a way that maintains citizen’s trust in the stateconsistent with the principle of social justice and taking into account the state of public finances”.

With the full content of the above. The letter of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, which is a response to the Ombudsman’s request, can be found below:

However, it is difficult to imagine how citizens’ trust in the state should be built by a regulation aimed at solving the problem of pensioners falling within the subjective scope of the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment of June 4, 2024, and:

• it completely ignores a significant part of them (specifically – women born in 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1952) and
• does not provide for any of the injured pensioners to be compensated for the years of understated benefits paid by ZUS (which – for each – should amount to approximately PLN 64,000).

So what – according to the project – is the subjective scope of the special conversion act regarding the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment of June 4, 2024?

In accordance with the position of ZUS of June 26, 2023, reference number 992600.035/11/2023 (which can be found at: LINK), presented at the request of the then Ministry of Family and Social Policy, regarding the estimated financial consequences for the Social Insurance Fund of the change that would be introduced in the Act of December 17, 1998 on pensions and annuities from the Social Insurance Fund, following the judgment Constitutional Tribunal of June 4, 2024 and which would consist in the possibility of calculating pensions without reducing the basis for calculating the pension by the sum of the amounts collected as part of earlier pensions – The judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal of June 4, 2024, however, covers in its subjective scope::

Continuation of the material below the video

• women born between 1949 and 1959 (excluding 1953) and men born between 1949 and 1954 (excluding 1953),
• who received early retirement pension on the basis of one of the provisions listed in Art. 25 section 1b of the Act of December 17, 1998 on pensions and annuities from the Social Insurance Fund, i.e. pursuant to the provisions of: Art. 46, 50, 50a, 50e or 184, as well as art. 88 or art. 88a of the Act of January 26, 1982 – Teacher’s Card and application for the above-mentioned. they submitted their pension before June 6, 2012 (i.e. before the announcement of the Act amending the Act of December 17, 1998 on pensions and disability pensions from the Social Insurance Fund, introducing the above-mentioned provision of Article 25(1b) of the Act), and then
• have applied for a general pension as well
• they did not acquire the right to a pension resulting from reaching retirement age before January 1, 2013 – as the Constitutional Tribunal pointed out in the justification of the judgment “only in the case of such people was there an unconstitutional application of the challenged legal norm, which was related to their unawareness of the effect of the decision taken”.

You can read more about the subjective scope of the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment of June 4, 2024 in the article below:

Why does the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy want to cover only women born in the years 1954-1959 and men born in the years 1949-1952 and in 1954?

As he explains – “Article 25(1b) of the Pension Act has been in force since January 1, 2013 and applies to pensions granted at the general retirement age. After 2012, the general retirement age was reached by women born after 1952 and men born after 1947. Since people born in 1948 are not subject to the new pension system, and the Act of June 19, 2020 amending the Act on pensions and disability pensions from the Social Insurance Fund (Journal of Laws, item 1222) covered people born in 1953, the proposed solution applies only to the above-mentioned age groups. In the case of women, it is proposed that the cut-off date should be the year of birth in 1959, and in the case of men, the year 1954 (5-year difference in retirement age), due to the fact that early retirement pensions were abolished at the end of 2008. A woman born in 1959 turned 49 in 2008, and a man – 54, which allowed them to take early retirement, e.g. character. It should be noted that most of these people could exercise the right to early retirement at the age of 55 (women) and 60 (men), provided they met a certain condition of length of service, and only in a few cases at an earlier age. The purpose of the proposed regulation is not to repeal Art. 25 section 1b of the Pension Act, but only to remove the effects of violating the principle of citizen trust in the state towards some of the addressees of this provision, who were actually surprised by the introduction of this regulation into the legal order and who had no opportunity to take actions to adapt to the change in the law.

Like example – MRPiPS cited the example of a dancer born in 1968, who took early retirement at the age of 40, and will reach the general retirement age in 2028. In the opinion of the ministry – in the above case – “it is impossible to talk about suffering any detriment since the person in question has a 20-year period to make a decision regarding his future and the general pension”.

According to the draft special conversion act – eligible retirees will have the right to have their pension amount recalculated (and therefore – an increase in current benefits)

According to the draft special conversion act – it is intended to enable eligible retirees (red.: mentioned above, therefore – excluding women born in 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1952) determining the amount of the general pension, without reducing the basis for calculating the pension by the sum of the amounts of earlier pensions receivedprovided that the application for an early retirement pension was submitted before June 6, 2012, and the right to a general pension was established by a decision of ZUS after 2012.

The proposed solution will therefore apply to people who receive or have received an early retirement pension, and the date of granting (acquiring) the right to a general pension falls after 2012 and pursuant to Art. 25 section 1b, the amount of the general pension was reduced by the amounts of earlier pensions collected. The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy proposes that persons whose general pension has been reduced in this way should have the amount of the new general pension re-determined at the moment of submitting the application for the determination of the above-mentioned pension. pension, without taking into account the indexation of the annual initial capital and contributions on the insured person’s account during the period of receiving the early pension until reaching the general retirement age applicable to the given person and without reducing the pension capital by the amounts of the early pensions received. Then – the new amount of the universal pension determined in this way – would be increased by the annual indexation carried out in March for pensions and annuities.

The proposed solution – contrary to the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment of June 4, 2024 – is also intended to cover people who are still receiving early retirement pensions (therefore – they never applied for a general pension). In the case of the above persons – their pension will be recalculated on the same principles as in the case of persons who previously applied for a general pension, i.e. determining the new amount of the general pension without reducing the pension capital by the amounts of earlier pensions received, assuming that the application was submitted on the day of reaching the general retirement age, and therefore – using the average life expectancy determined at the moment of reaching the general retirement age applicable to a given person. Then, for each person, pension indexation would be carried out in March of each year in a new amount, until the date of entry into force of the Act.

The re-determination of the pension amount of persons who, before the entry into force of the special conversion act, submitted an application for a general pension provided for in the project – would be made by ZUS ex officio. Therefore, no such applications would be necessary. retirees to recalculate their pension. Persons who, before the entry into force of the special conversion act, did not apply for a general pension – the calculation of the pension amount provided for in the project would be made by ZUS on the date of entry into force of the above-mentioned act, but – provided that they submit an application for a general pension by December 31, 2026.

According to the draft special conversion act, it would also cover family pensioners of eligible retirees

The solutions proposed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy in the draft special conversion act would also cover persons receiving survivors’ pensions after persons who met the conditions specified in the proposed regulation, whose capital for the general pension was reduced by the sum of the amounts of earlier pensions received (art. 7 of the project).

According to the draft special conversion act, pensioners will not receive PLN 64,000. PLN compensation for years of understated benefits paid by ZUS

In accordance with the draft special conversion act developed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy – However, the proposed solutions do not specifically provide for a mechanism for equalizing the pension benefit for retirees who receive a pension reduced by the total sum of pension benefits received before reaching the general retirement age.. According to the authors of the above-mentioned project – addressees of this act „they are a privileged group. They could take advantage of the privilege of early retirement, even though the new pension system to which they belonged did not provide for this in principle; then they had the opportunity to exercise the right to a general retirement pension, i.e. a kind of “right to a retirement pension after retirement”, even though their constitutional right to social security due to age had already been fulfilled by acquiring the right to an early retirement pension, and additionally – the proposed regulations enable the above-mentioned persons to re-determine the amount of the general retirement pension without the mechanism of reducing the basis for its calculation by the received early retirement pensions.

Pensioners covered by the subjective scope of the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment of June 4, 2024 (and at the same time covered by the subjective scope of the proposed special conversion act) – Therefore, they cannot count on approximately PLN 64,000. PLN compensation for years of underestimated pension paymentsbecause, according to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, they were already privileged enough by the fact that they could take advantage of early retirement and then general retirement.

And where did the amount of 64,000 come from? PLN for each retiree? It results from estimates presented by ZUS in a letter of June 26, 2023, reference number 992600.035.11.2023, addressed to the Ministry of Family and Social Policy in a case still pending before the Constitutional Tribunal (which resulted in the judgment of June 4, 2024), according to which – „the estimated monthly average increases benefits for people [red. tj. osób, które miały prawo do emerytury „wcześniejszej” przed 1 stycznia 2013 r., data przyznania im prawa do emerytury powszechnej przypada po 2012 r. oraz miały pomniejszaną podstawę obliczenia emerytury powszechnej] is PLN 1,191, and the average compensation amount is PLN 64,075”.

Similar situation – i.e. depriving retirees of the right to compensation for years of understated benefit payments – also occurs in the case of the so-called June retirees and the (also prepared by the government) act on them, which enters into force on January 1, 2026, which you can read more about in the article:

When would the special conversion act regarding the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment of June 4, 2024 enter into force?

The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy proposes that the special conversion act enters into force on the day June 1, 2026 (in accordance with Article 10 of the draft). The latest confirmation that the originally assumed date of entry into force of the regulations, which falls on June 1, 2026, remains valid – can be found in the letter of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy of December 10, 2025 (reference number: DUS.II.070.12.2025.MDe), which is a response to the Ombudsman’s address on this matter of December 6, 2025 (reference number VII.7060.1.2024.JRO), in which – Deputy Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy Sebastian Gajewski confirmed that – “in accordance with the provisions adopted in the draft act, it is expected that the new law will enter into force on June 1, 2026.”but currently – Analytical work is underway at the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy on comments to the project and postulates regarding the proposed solutions, submitted in the course of its inter-ministerial arrangements, opinions and public consultations.which ended at the beginning of July 2025. “Once they are completed, the document will be submitted for further legislative work at the level of the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers” – assured the deputy minister.

The final shape of the provisions of the draft special conversion act will therefore be determined by the subsequent stages of the legislative process – in particular the result of inter-ministerial arrangements, public consultations and opinions, and then work within the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers and the Council of Ministers. Only after the government adopts the project will it be forwarded by the Prime Minister to the Marshal’s Staff, thus starting the next stage of work on the act – in the Sejm.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy encourages the resumption of proceedings before ZUS to re-determine the amount of the pension

It is also worth mentioning that on March 3, 2025 (i.e. on the day of publication of the assumptions of the above-mentioned special conversion act in the list of legislative and program works of the Council of Ministers) – in response to INFOR’s question regarding the stage of legislative work on the above-mentioned the act regarding the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal of June 4, 2024 – the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy, informed us that:

„As a result of the verdict [red. wyroku TK z 4 czerwca 2024 r., sygn. akt SK 140/20] there is a possibility of resuming the proceedings. Abolition of the deduction mechanism for other years [redtj[redtjinnych niż rocznik 1953 r., którego objęła korekta mechanizmu potrącania, czyli pomniejszania zgromadzonego kapitału o świadczenia pobrane w ramach wcześniejszej emerytury, co miało wpływ na ustalenie emerytury powszechnej na niższym poziomie, która została wprowadzona w 2020 r.] could lead to an artificial increase in the amount of the pensionerr, unrelated to the contributions paid. This would be contrary to the insurance principle and would burden the state budget, which already supports the deficit Social Insurance Fund..”

Contrary to what ZUS claims (i.e. that the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal of June 4, 2024 cannot constitute the basis for resuming the proceedings to re-determine the amount of the pension, applying the above-mentioned judgment, because it was not published in the Journal of Laws) – Therefore, MRPiPS believes that as a result of the above-mentioned judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal – it is possible to resume proceedings before ZUS. An alternative solution (to await the entry into force of the proposed special conversion act and to re-determine the amount of the pension on its basis), which the ministry proposes approx. 200 thousand injured pensionerswho fall within the subjective scope of the above-mentioned judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal (especially women born between 1949 and 1952which are not covered by the subjective scope of the draft special conversion act) and who – based on this judgment – should receive approx. PLN 64,000 from ZUS. PLN compensation and an increase in current benefits by almost PLN 1,200 (and who are often already elderly, because these are people born even in 1949) – is therefore a matter of contact with ZUS (which automatically rejects all applications to reopen proceedings) disputes before the courts which in turn – in similar cases, even within the same department, in the same court – Sometimes they rule in favor of and sometimes against pensioners. However, since the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy took the position that the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal of June 4, 2024 constitutes the basis for resuming the proceedings before ZUS – perhaps ZUS’s “policy” regarding applications for resumption in which retirees refer to the above-mentioned will change. judgment and pension conversion proceedings will actually begin to be resumed.

You can read more about the judgments issued by common courts on appeals against ZUS decisions refusing to reopen the proceedings and recalculate the pension amount (in connection with the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment of June 4, 2024) in the article below:

Legal basis:

• Draft act on determining the amount of pensions from the Social Insurance Fund for persons who retired by June 6, 2012 on the terms applicable to persons born before January 1, 1949 (project number in the list of legislative works of the Council of Ministers: UD204)
• Judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal of June 4, 2024, ref. no. file SK 140/20
• Act of December 17, 1998 on pensions and annuities from the Social Insurance Fund (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2025, item 1749)