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A number of social benefits help people with some degree of disability and their carers to earn an income. One of such benefits is a special care allowance. To be eligible for it, you must meet the kinship and income criteria.
Special care allowance – what is it?
Special care allowance is a social cash benefit granted to people who do not take up work or leave it because of caring for a disabled person. This is primarily about relatives in a straight line, the spouse or siblings of the person in need of care. Therefore, you can apply for a special care allowance for a grandchild, child or parent. The benefit has been granted since 2013.
The amount of the special care allowance is indexed from time to time. From November 2018, it is equal to PLN 620 per month. It is a constant value for each beneficiary. For example, there is no correlation between the amount of special care allowance and the length of service.
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Special care allowance – for whom?
The criteria for entitling to receiving the benefit are included in the Act on special care allowance of February 25, 1964 of the Family and Guardianship Code. Spouses or persons who are obligated to maintain maintenance may apply for the allowance. They do not take up employment or other gainful work or resign from their current employment in order to provide permanent care over a person:
- with a severe disability certificate,
- with a certificate of disability and the need for long-term or permanent care, help of another person due to the limited ability to function independently,
- who is a child with a certified disability and requires the presence of another person in the process of rehabilitation, treatment and education.
The entitlement to special care allowance is not affected by registration with an employment office or the status of an unemployed person.
What is the difference between special care allowance and care allowance? The latter is awarded by ZUS to persons who undertake professional work. Its purpose is to protect against the loss of remuneration for days when the insured person cannot show up for work due to the child’s illness, illness of the spouse who takes care of the child on a daily basis or the child’s disability. The insured is entitled to 60 days per year during which he or she receives care allowance.
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Special care allowance and income
The income criterion (i.e. calculated in the net amount) decides about granting a special care allowance. The income per person in the family of the person providing care and requiring care may not exceed PLN 764. The amount is calculated on the basis of the amount of income from the previous year in relation to the benefit period, as well as taking into account the gain and loss of income.
In the special care allowance, income is taken into account:
- in the family of the person who is taking care of – spouses, parents or guardians of actual children who are dependent on children up to 25 years of age, as well as children over 25, who have a certificate of disability, and therefore are entitled to a care allowance, an allowance for a carer or a special care allowance. However, a child under the care of a legal guardian, married children or adult children with their own children is not recognized;
- in the family of a minor who requires care – the income of this person, their parents, the parent’s spouse, the person with whom the parent of the requiring child is raising the child together, children up to the age of 25 who are dependent on the persons referred to in lit. ad. Family members of a child under the care of a legal guardian, a married child and adult children with their own offspring and the parents of a child in need of care who are obliged to pay maintenance are not taken into account;
- in the family of an adult who requires care – the income of that person, their spouse, the person with whom the person requiring care is raising a common child, children up to the age of 25 who are dependent on the persons referred to in point (a). ad. A child under the care of a legal guardian, a married child and adult children with their own child are not included as family members.
The farmer and the special care allowance
The benefit may be collected by persons registered in KRUS. Farmers, their spouses and household members are entitled to a special care allowance. However, the condition is that the beneficiary – the farmer, his spouse or household member – ceases to run a farm and work in it.
Formally, a special care allowance may be granted after submitting an appropriate certificate of the cessation of running a farm or working in it, written under pain of criminal liability for making false statements with a clause confirming the awareness of the applicant.
Special care allowance and other benefits
Is it possible to receive two benefits, for example, a special care allowance and a nursing allowance? The law requires that in the case of entitlement to several social benefits, you should choose only one. Applies to:
- parental benefit,
- nursing benefit
- special care allowance,
- a supplement to the family allowance for childcare during childcare leave,
- Carer’s allowance (according to the Act of 4 April 2014 on the determination and payment of carer’s allowances).
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