Polish MPs greenlight employer-sponsored pension plans
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
05.10.2018 08:00
Poland’s lawmakers have approved a plan to go ahead with voluntary, employer-sponsored pension programmes as a new option for citizens to save for retirement.
The lower house of Poland's parliament, the Sejm, in session on Thursday evening. Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak
The measure passed the lower house of parliament in a 229-197 vote with two abstentions late on Thursday, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in August that the new Employee Capital Pension System (PPK) would be another social assistance programme launched by his conservative government to ensure the financial security of families.
Under the new system, employers would contribute the equivalent of at least 1.5 percent of employees' gross wages to individual retirement savings accounts every month.
Employees would in most cases be required to contribute no less than 2 percent of their gross monthly wages, and the government would make a supplementary contribution of PLN 240 every year, in addition to a one-off welcome payment of PLN 250.
The new system would take effect in stages beginning next year and be fully up and running nationwide by January 1, 2021.
The bill now goes to the upper house of Poland's parliament, the Senate, for further debate.
(gs/pk)
Source: IAR