Teachers who returned to work under regulations introduced after the outbreak of war in Ukraine may lose their compensatory benefit. The Ministry of Education has clarified that this will happen if they remain employed after August 31. The ministry does not plan to extend the current rules.
Teacher compensatory benefits are the equivalent of bridging pensions. Teachers receiving such benefits generally cannot continue working in education. If someone decides to take a job, they lose the benefit.
In 2022, following the war in Ukraine and the influx of refugees to Poland, temporary exceptions were introduced. These allowed teachers receiving compensatory benefits to work in schools without suspending the benefit. However, all indications are that these rules will not be extended.
No legislative work on extension
– The ministry is not conducting any legislative work that would extend this solution – said Deputy Minister of Education Henryk Kiepura, quoted by the PAP local government service, in response to a parliamentary interpellation.
– A person deciding to switch to a teacher compensatory benefit must therefore reckon with the fact that receiving the benefit is generally linked to the inability to continue working at a school as a teacher – the official emphasized.
This means that teachers who returned to school under the regulations on aid to Ukrainian citizens may lose their compensatory benefit if they do not resign from work after August 31.
Benefit paid from state budget
According to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS), in April 2026, 9,200 people received teacher compensatory benefits. The average amount of the benefit that month was 4,475.46 PLN. The number of teachers receiving this benefit in April 2026 was lower than in the same period one, two, and three years earlier.
Money for teacher compensatory benefits does not come from paid contributions, but directly from the state budget.
Źródło: WNP.PL, Fot. PAP/Radek Pietruszka
