Thousands of applications for widow's pension. ZUS issued an important announcement

The beginning of July will see the start of payments for widows' pensions, a new benefit for spouses who have died. The Social Insurance Institution has provided the latest data on the number of applications and the schedule for transfers.

On July 1 , a widow's pension will be launched in Poland. This is a form of support that allows you to receive part or all of the benefit that was due to your deceased spouse, while at the same time keeping your own pension or disability pension. Applications for funds could be submitted from January 1.

SEE: Second pension indexation in 2025? Here are the possible scenarios

With the new half-year , decisions on granting or refusing pensions and the first transfers will be sent.

The Social Insurance Institution has issued a statement in which it has been informed about the schedule of payments. They should be expected on the following days of the month: 1, 6, 10, 15, 20 and 25. It is worth remembering that if any of these dates falls on a non-working day, seniors' accounts will be topped up earlier. For example, instead of Sundays falling on 6 and 20 July, they will be Fridays (4 and 18 July).

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The latest information from ZUS also shows that by 12 June, over 900,000 applications for pensions had been received at the institution's address, which constitutes 88% of all applications. Since KRUS will process 117,500 forms, and other pension and disability pension bodies (related to, for example, the army and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration) will process several thousand forms each, a total of one million people are applying for the combined allowance (estimates indicate 1.2 million eligible widows and widowers).

As announced in April by the president of the Department, Zbigniew Derdziuk, about 3/4 of the applications submitted at that time were accepted. In 1/5, there was no indication of the second benefit that was the basis for using the support, and 10% of the documents did not meet the established criteria.

According to the Act, a person receiving a widow's pension may receive 100% of their own benefit and 15% (and from 2027 25%) of that of their deceased spouse, or vice versa. Those entitled are a widow or widower who:

• are at least 60 (female) or 65 (male) years old
• were in a marital relationship until the death of the husband or wife
• they became entitled to a survivor's pension after a deceased partner no earlier than at the age of 55 (women) and 60 (men)
• they did not enter into a new marriage

SEE: Many Poles will receive an unexpected PLN 800 from ZUS in July. This is for "latecomers"

Around 300 thousand people may be affected by a situation where two transfers will be made to their account: one from the Social Insurance Institution, the other from another body (e.g. KRUS). Those affected will receive only one decision, and it will be sent by the institution responsible for transferring the 15% benefit.

It should be remembered that the total amount of the widow's pension cannot exceed three times the lowest pension (currently PLN 5,636.73 gross). If the sum of benefits (your own and the part after the deceased spouse) exceeds this limit, the amount of the family pension paid will be reduced accordingly.