Sejm Approves Childcare Amendment: What Changes in Nurseries and Playgroups?

The Polish Sejm has adopted an amendment to the law on childcare for children under three, introducing new forms of institutional care, qualification updates, and dietary standards awaiting the president’s signature.

New Amendment Awaits Presidential Signature

Sejm decided on a revolution in nurseries and small playgroups. The Sejm adopted, after Senate amendments, the amendment to the law on childcare for children up to the age of three. The law will now go to the desk of President Karol Nawrocki.

The aim of the amendment prepared by the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy is to raise the quality of care for children attending nurseries, children’s clubs, and under the care of a day carer. The regulation also introduces a new form of institutional care for small children: day care points.

Amendments proposed by the Senate were of a redactional nature, correcting erroneous cross-references and standardizing the entry into force dates of individual provisions. They were supported by 440 MPs, one was against, and one abstained.

Next Steps and Changes to Day Care

The further fate of the law will be decided by the president. In the next step, the law will be sent to President Karol Nawrocki, who will have 21 days to sign it, veto it, or decide to refer it to the Constitutional Tribunal.

The amendment assumes that a day carer will no longer be a single-person care institution, except for a person operating on their own account and in their own name. The new form of care, day care points, is to be independent of the person and defined as a place where care is provided by day carers.

In a day care point, care for a group of no more than 16 children will be provided by at least two carers, with one carer being able to look after eight children.

Operational Rules and Staff Qualifications

Regulations also take into account spatial requirements for day care points, simplified compared to nurseries. Furthermore, changes will allow for temporary replacements of carers or a change of carer without excessive formalities.

Day carers will still be able to work outside the day care point by running a business on their own account. They will be able to care for a maximum of five children independently and eight if the carer is helped by a second person with required qualifications. If the group includes a child under one year of age, a child with disabilities, or one requiring special care, this limit will be a maximum of three children or five if care is also provided by an assisting person.

Qualifications for a person applying for the position of carer in a nursery and children’s club have also been changed. For candidates with relevant higher education, 80 hours of professional internships and a 30-hour training on care standards are provided. For others, a comprehensive 310-hour initial training is required. All carers will be obliged to systematically update their knowledge and skills, and the costs of training will be covered by the entity running the facility.

Carer Rights, Nutrition Standards, and Data

Carers are to gain the right to 16 hours or two days of paid time for training annually. In addition, they receive a public mass transport discount and a service ID, and will be covered by legal protection provided for public officials.

New rules on nutrition in nurseries and children’s clubs will become a fact. New regulations will introduce mandatory nutrition standards and a total ban on publishing the image of children by entities running a nursery, children’s club, or day care point. Children’s photos cannot be shared publicly even if a parent gives consent, with exceptions when the child’s image is merely a detail of a whole, such as a gathering, landscape, or public event, or when shared exclusively with parents of children under care in that facility.

The amendment also provides for the establishment of April 4 as Day Care Giver of the Small Child. Most regulations are to enter into force by 2028.

According to data from the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy, at the end of 2024, about 33,000 carers were employed in childcare institutions for children up to 3 years old, with close to half working in facilities run by local government units.