Old-age pension/invalidity pension

 

It is important for everybody, who works in the EU, whether his or her work shall count at assessment of the old-age pension. It is also important, whether he or she will retain the rights to old-age pension acquired so far when he or she moves abroad in search for a job, and whether employment in a number of EU countries shall affect assessment of the future old-age pension. Equally important for everybody is whether he or she will have the right to the invalidity pension and what terms and conditions should be met in the event of sickness or accident.

 

These are your rights:

 

1. You shall not lose your right to old-age or invalidity pension when you move to another country.

 

2. Every country, where you have worked at least one year, shall be obliged to pay you the benefit upon your reaching the pensionable age and meeting the relevant requirements in the country. Every country shall take into account the periods of insurance in other EU countries, and your benefit shall be pro rata to the aggregate period of your insurance. Even if you have worked less than a year in a country and you shall be not granted the old-age pension there, your contributions shall not be lost, but taken into account in assessment of the old-age pension granted to you in another country.

 

3. If you have worked in a number of countries, your old-age pension shall consist of the partial benefits to which you acquired the rights in each of the countries. The amount of the old-age pension shall depend on the periods of your employment in each country. Your old-age pension shall be assessed according to the rules in each country of your employment and paid to you in the currency of the country of your residence.

 

4. If you have worked in a country too short to be granted old-age or invalidity pension, all the periods of your employment and paying contributions shall be aggregated. If you have worked too short in Poland, ZUS shall take into account your employment abroad. If you have worked too short abroad, a ZUS counterpart in the relevant Member State shall take into account your employment in Poland. This principle shall apply to persons employed and self-employed likewise.

 

5. You shall receive your old-age or invalidity pension regardless of the country of your permanent residence. This rule shall not concern only special additions to pension, independent of the contributions paid, when and where the pension is below a certain level (different in each country). These shall be paid only if you are living in a country, where such benefits are provided for. For instance: the Belgian income guaranteed for elderly persons shall be available only in Belgium, while the French supplementary allowance from the National Solidarity Fund only in France. Such benefit transfer shall concern also the care, full orphan’s, and death grants, whereas it shall not concern the veteran’s, compensatory, or for secret teaching, as well as the cash allowances for former soldier-miners since these are not covered by the EU coordination.

 

6. If you receive an old-age or invalidity pension from another country, the pension shall be converted into the currency of the country of your residence. The foreign exchange rate to be applied there shall be the respective average exchange rate adopted by the European Central Bank.

 

7. If you were employed in a EU country before Poland’s accession to the EU and such period of employment has not been considered in your pension assessment because before May 1, 2004 Poland had not had a reciprocal insurance agreement concluded with the state in question, therefore your pension is lower than it could be - and you may apply for recalculation of the benefit amount.

 

8. If you are an old-age or invalidity pensioner living in Poland, and you have the right to Polish and foreign benefits alike, but their aggregate amount is lower than the lowest Polish old-age or invalidity pension, ZUS must ex officio grant an addition to you in the amount of the difference between the amount of the Polish lowest old-age or invalidity pension and the aggregate amount of the Polish benefit and the foreign benefit denominated in the Polish zlotys.

 

These are your obligations:

 

1. If you have been employed over the required period in another Member State, you may claim an old-age or invalidity pension from the state only if you were insured in that country (i.e. an insurance contribution was deducted from your salary) for at least one year. An old-age or invalidity pension shall be granted and assessed according to regulations of the country of your respective employment. Benefits in respect of accidents at work and occupational diseases shall be granted pursuant to the legislation of the state, where you were employed on the date of the accident or when you contracted the occupational disease.

 

2. You shall claim an application for old-age or invalidity pension to institution where you live (if in Poland – to ZUS, if abroad – to the respective ZUS counterpart there).

 

3. To be granted an accident pension you must claim to ZUS branch office, or with the competent institution of the state, where you had the accident.

The following documents should be enclosed with your claim:

EU form E 207 – “Information concerning the insured person’s insurance record”,

 

Survivor’s pension (survivor of your deceased parent or spouse)

 

This benefit shall be awarded to members of the deceased person’s family. Rules concerning the survivor’s pension and its types differ in different EU countries. In some of them, like in Poland, you must have paid the relevant insurance contributions to be awarded the benefit, in others it is deemed a family benefit and funded by the state budget.

 

These are your rights:

 

1. You shall receive the survivor pension regardless of the country of your residence.

 

2. If the deceased spouse was employed or self-employed, your pension shall be assessed in the same way, as if you were employed and insured yourself.

 

3. If your spouse was an old-age pensioner, your pension shall be assessed according to the rules in the country, from which the deceased received the old-age pension. If your spouse was employed in a number of countries – according to the regulation in each of them.

 

4. At assessing the survivor pension, the periods of the deceased spouse’s employment in each country, where applicable, shall be taken into account, if the period of employment in one of them is not sufficient for its awarding.

 

5. If the pension is paid by an institution of another state, where it is deemed a family and not an insurance benefit, and the amount thereof is lower than the Polish survivor pension amount, then ZUS shall be obliged to pay an addition in the amount of the difference between these two pension amounts. The same rule shall apply where the survivor pension is assessed only abroad.

 

These are your obligations:

 

1. You must claim your survivor pension yourself. You can do it by making a claim to ZUS.

 

2. If you are entitled to a foreign pension too, you must make a respective claim to the competent institution of the country, where the deceased person was insured. You can do it via ZUS – it shall forward all required documents and forms to the competent institution.

 

 

Death grant

 

If your relative died, there is a death grant available in EU countries. The person, who has covered the funeral costs, shall be entitled to the death grant.

 

1. You shall not receive the death grant from more than one state. Or only because the deceased has been your relative. If the death grant has been paid in Poland, for instance, the right to claim the benefit from another Member State shall expire, even if the deceased was insured there, because the rights to such allowance are not cumulative.

 

2. You must claim the death grant within 12 months after the date of death of the person concerned. If you have failed to do so – you’ll lose the benefit.

 

3. You must make such a claim for the death grant to either ZUS or KRUS, or to their counterparts in the country, where the concerned person died. However you can do it to ZUS only, and then it shall deal with its counterpart abroad.