Family benefit higher than PLN 800? It’s possible, but on one condition

Almost every state has its own family program. In Poland, the most popular is “”, which guarantees PLN 800 for each child. In other countries, funds are only released when certain conditions are met. When one parent works in another EU country, they can receive benefits from the government there. How to do it?

Transfer of benefits between EU countries. What is it?

“The ‘transfer’ of benefits between member states is made possible by the so-called neutralization of the residence requirement. Thanks to it, an employee or self-employed person, subject to e.g. French regulations, is entitled to receive French family benefits for his or her family who lives, e.g. in Poland, as if she lived in France. This also applies to an unemployed person who, for example, worked and became unemployed in France, and now lives with his family, e.g. in Poland,” informs the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy. However, this is only possible if we submit an appropriate application in the country where we work.

Benefits should not be cumulative. The difference in their amount is covered by a special allowance

What if we are entitled to family benefits both in the child’s country of residence and in the country of work of one of the parents? In this situation, EU regulations have provided solutions to prevent their accumulation. The so-called Converging priority rules. “In the event of overlapping entitlements, family benefits shall be provided in accordance with the legislation designated as having priority under the provisions of paragraph 1. Entitlements to family benefits under other conflicting legislations shall be suspended up to the amount provided for by the first legislation and, where appropriate, an allowance shall be determined differential for a sum that exceeds this amount. However, such a differential supplement need not be provided for children residing in another Member State when entitlement to the benefit in question results solely from place of residence,” we read in Regulation (EC) No. 883 of the European Parliament and of the Council 2004 of April 29, 2004 on the coordination of social security systems.

It follows from EU regulations that the differential allowance is nothing more than compensation for a higher amount of benefits available in given countries. The decision to grant it is made automatically after submitting the application for payment. You also cannot choose which country you prefer to have your funds withdrawn from.