Disability Pension Reform

The four-month project was completed in September 2000. The project representing an in-depth analysis of the social security system addressing the needs of the disabled was commissioned by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. It was sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development.

The research conducted as part of the project was not limited just to the Polish system, but also extended to eight other countries known to face similar problems, adopting various reform approaches to rationalize the behavior of system beneficiaries. The countries covered were: the Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, USA and Hungary. Analyses and projections applying the "Social Policy Budget" model (used by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy and the Gdansk Institute of Market Economics) covered both the general and the agricultural systems. The research also covered all four lines (pillars) of income replacement for persons incapable of gainful employment due to bodily infirmity:

1. pension system under the general insurance scheme;
2. insurance against accidents at work and occupational diseases;
3. social pensions (for persons disabled from birth or early youth), and;
4. support for employment of the disabled.

Experts involved in the research were: Agnieszka Chłoń, Zofia Czepulis-Rutkowska, Stanisława Golinowska, Janusz Iżycki, Grażyna Kaplińska, Ryszard Mikonowicz, Katarzyna Piętka, Barbara Sławińska, Krzysztof Starzec, Marek Styczeń, Janina Szumlicz, Ewa Wągrowska, Irena Wójcicka and Maciej Żukowski. Stanisława Golinowska was the Project Coordinator and scientific editor, assisted in her work by Katarzyna Piętka.

The analysis concluded with recommendations designed to eliminate weaknesses in administering the system and apply solutions encouraging more rational behavior of system participants from the point of view of reconciling the general public interest with individual needs of the disabled.

Publications:

• In September 2001 the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy issued a Polish-language publication edited by Stanislawa Golinowska entitled 'Social Security for the Disabled in Poland and Other Countries'. The publication presents a diagnosis of the social security system for the disabled in Poland and a projection of a number of beneficiaries and the amount of disability payments, as well as recommendations for institutional solutions applicable to the Polish system.

• Research outcome concerning Polish Disability System was published as a chapter of an English-language book  issued by the Ashgate Publising House in 2003. Editor of the book entitled 'European Disability Pension Policies'  was Chrisopher Prinz.