Scheduled for introduction next year, the allowance will be available for every child after the first, with each family entitled to a total of PLN 12,000 (some EUR 2,600, USD 3,100) per child, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters on Tuesday.
Around 410,000 children are expected to be covered by the new Family Welfare Capital initiative in 2022, according to a statement from the government.
“A modern welfare state based on care for human dignity, must, above all, look after families,” Morawiecki told reporters.
Parents whose second and subsequent children are already between 12 and 36 months old when the law takes effect, will also receive the allowance—proportionately for the period between the introduction of the benefit and the time when the child turns 36 months old.
Technically, the allowance will be paid out at the request of the eligible person, regardless of the financial means of the family, officials said.
It will take the form of 24 monthly installments of PLN 500 per child or 12 monthly installments of PLN 1,000 per child depending on the preferences of the beneficiaries.
In addition, parents of children up to 3 years of age who are not covered by the new Family Welfare Capital programme will receive PLN 400 a month towards childcare costs, the government said.
According to its estimates, close to 110,000 children stand to benefit from this form of assistance next year.
The new policies are part of the government's flagship Polish New Deal programme for post-pandemic growth and are also aligned with a National Recovery Plan, according to officials.
The new allowance is designed to "soften unfavourable demographic trends" and reduce poverty among families with children, the government also said.
It added that its Family Welfare Capital initiative also aimed to boost "the social and human capital of families," strengthen the tools that allow parents to combine family roles with employment, and foster the growth of various forms of care for children of up to 3 years of age.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP