7,000 PLN payout for everyone. Unanimous decision

• On May 14, the Senate voted to increase the funeral allowance from January 1, 2026.
• The project assumes increasing the amount of the funeral allowance to PLN 7,000. Since 2011, it has been PLN 4,000.
• The costs of increasing the benefit are estimated at a maximum of PLN 2 billion per year.

On May 14, 2025, the Senate adopted unanimously (88 votes in favor, no one was against and no one abstained) and without amendments an amendment to the act that increases the funeral allowance from PLN 4,000 to PLN 7,000. Now the act only awaits the signature of President Andrzej Duda.

The Act provides for the indexation of the benefit. The amount of the funeral allowance will be subject to indexation from 1 March in a situation where inflation exceeds 5% in the previous year.

We do not want the annual, automatic indexation of the funeral allowance to trigger an annual, automatic increase in the prices of funeral services. The indexation is to ensure the maintenance of the purchasing power of the funeral allowance, and not a constant increase in prices on the funeral services market - explained Deputy Minister of Labor Sebastian Gajewski during the discussion on the act.

The current amount of the lump-sum benefit payable in the event of death and the associated need for burial has remained unchanged since 2011.

Increase in funeral allowance to PLN 7,000. Basic rules

The benefit is available to:

• a family member,
• employers,
• social welfare home,
• commune,
• district,
• a legal person of a church or religious association,
• to a stranger.

The following are considered family members:

• spouse (widower, widower, and separated spouse),
• parents, stepfather, stepmother and adoptive person,
• own children, children of the other spouse and adopted children,
• children accepted for upbringing as part of a foster family,
• other children taken in for upbringing and maintenance before reaching the age of majority,
• siblings,
• grandparents,
• grandchildren,
• persons over whom legal guardianship has been established.

Funeral allowance is payable upon the death of:

• a person who was granted the right to a pension or disability pension,
• a person who was granted a bridging pension,
• a person who is insured with ZUS (including those receiving maternity allowance or an allowance in the amount of maternity allowance for the period after the sickness insurance entitlement has ceased to exist),
• a person who was granted a teacher's compensatory benefit,
• a person who died while receiving sickness benefit or rehabilitation benefit after the insurance had ended,
• a person who, on the date of death, was not granted a retirement or disability pension, but met the conditions for obtaining one,
• a person who received a cash benefit as a blind civilian victim of warfare,
• a person who received a pre-retirement benefit or pre-retirement allowance,
• a person who received a social pension,
• a person who died as a result of an accident or occupational disease arising in special circumstances,
• a family member of the person mentioned in points 1–4, 8 and 10.

The documents necessary for the payment of the funeral allowance must be submitted to ZUS within 12 months of the date of death of the person for whom the allowance is due. After this period, the claims become time-barred.

The costs of increasing the benefit are estimated at a maximum of PLN 2 billion per year.