Extraordinary funeral expenses. Government to pay for repatriation of remains from abroad

• The Sejm passed an amendment to the Act on Pensions and Annuities concerning an increase in the funeral allowance from PLN 4,000 to PLN 7,000. The amendment also regulates the principle of settling the so-called earmarked allowance.
• The benefit will be granted to the person who covered the funeral costs if they are not entitled to a funeral allowance. A special allowance will also be granted to cover extraordinary funeral costs.
• The earmarked benefit from social assistance will be available without any income criterion and without any limit on its amount, neither to the amount indicated by an absolute number nor to the amount of the income criterion.

The Sejm passed an amendment to the Act on Pensions and Annuities from the Social Insurance Fund concerning an increase in the funeral allowance from PLN 4,000 to PLN 7,000.

It also regulates the principle of settling the so-called special allowance. It may be granted to a person who covered the costs of a funeral , if they are not entitled to a funeral allowance after the deceased.

An example would be a situation where a mother is uninsured because she works under a contract for specific work, has a child who is small and uninsured. After the death of such a child, there will be no funeral benefit

- said Sebastian Gajewski, Deputy Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy.

A special-purpose allowance will also be granted if the person who covered the funeral costs is entitled to a funeral allowance and incurred extraordinary costs in connection with the funeral that were difficult to predict and impossible to cover from the funeral allowance.

The Deputy Minister pointed out that this includes, for example, bringing a body from abroad.

Gajewski emphasized that the specific benefit from social assistance will be available without any income criterion and without any limit on the amount (neither to the amount indicated by an absolute number nor to the amount of the income criterion).

As regards the amount of earmarked benefits - because they are social assistance benefits - the body granting such benefits will be able to determine its amount, adequately to the situation of the applicant

- said the deputy head of MRPiPS.

The increase in the funeral allowance from PLN 4,000 to PLN 7,000 is assumed in the amendment to the act on pensions and annuities from the Social Insurance Fund, which was passed by the Sejm. The increase is to come into force in 2026.

The current amount of the one-off benefit in the event of death and the related need for burial is PLN 4,000 and has remained unchanged since 2011.

The amendment passed by the Sejm assumes an increase in the funeral allowance to PLN 7,000. The benefit will be subject to indexation in a situation where inflation exceeds 5%.