Poland: Simplifications in Documentation for Maternity Allowance

The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy has prepared a draft regulation on the scope of information and documents required to grant and pay social insurance benefits in the event of sickness and maternity. The regulation is expected to enter into force on July 1, 2026. The draft introduces the following simplifications regarding documentation for maternity allowance:

• Elimination of the child’s birth certificate requirement – when the allowance is paid by the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS), the parent will no longer need to submit an abridged copy of the birth certificate. It will be sufficient to provide basic information about the child and parents in the application (first name, surname, PESEL number, date and place of birth), and ZUS will independently retrieve the data from the civil status register. This simplification does not apply to cases where the payer is an employer registering more than 20 people for insurance. The draft also explicitly allows the use of a foreign document confirming the birth of a child.
• Simplification of the procedure for the father to take over the allowance – among other things, the obligation for the mother to submit a declaration on whether the father intends to take over the allowance for the period corresponding to parental leave is abolished.
• Other formal simplifications – including a reduction in the amount of data required in application forms.