In November 2024 a Greater Poland father applied for the “babciowe” benefit for his daughter, and only after a Gazeta.pl intervention did ZUS grant him retroactive payments from 1 November 2023.
Applicant and Initial Claim
Wojciech from Greater Poland, father of a nearly two‑year‑old daughter, submitted a claim for the “babciowe” (grandmother allowance) on 14 November 2024. The benefit, officially called “Aktywni Rodzice w Pracy,” is paid to working parents and amounts to 1,500 PLN per month for children between 12 and 35 months of age.
Initial Cut‑Off Due to Day‑Care Registration
ZUS rejected the claim for the period from 1 to 11 November, arguing that from 12 November the child had been registered as under the care of a day‑care provider. Wojciech had not applied for such care, and the decision effectively barred the family from receiving the allowance for that year.
Mistaken PESEL and Handling by ZUS
A ZUS staff member later explained that the day‑care facility’s administrator had entered the wrong child’s PESEL number when entering the care request, leading to a misfiled application. The error was said to be corrected shortly thereafter, but ZUS remained silent while Wojciech repeatedly followed up, asking for the case to be resolved.
Ministerial Technical Comment
In June the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy wrote to ZUS, stating that a single‑digit mistake in a PESEL could produce a completely different legal identifier, and that the checksum in the number makes accidental entry of another person’s PESEL highly unlikely. The ministry urged ZUS to clarify the situation as quickly as possible.
Retrospective Approval and Payment
After Gazeta.pl’s September inquiry, ZUS confirmed that it had re‑examined Wojciech’s daughter’s record. On 24 September it issued a decision granting the allowance retroactively from 1 November 2023 and transferred the overdue funds to the parents. The ministry later noted that the “babciowe” has been paid to more than 153,000 children over the past year.
