The 500+ program passed to ZUS just like some forgotten star to a certain mobile operator in an endless series of advertisements. Apart from the necessity to submit a new application, theoretically nothing should change for the beneficiaries of this social program, but there is a significant change nevertheless. It is about the payment dates, which – as ZUS itself admits – are now a pure lottery.
On June 1, a new annual benefit period of the 500+ program began and the first benefits were paid out by ZUS on the next day. Last week, ZUS transferred almost PLN 600 million to the accounts of parents and guardians of children covered by the program.
The machine will choose the payout date
Does this mean that 500+ payments have been carried over to the beginning of the month? The only correct answer is: it’s complicated. So far, payments – made by communes usually took place in the middle of the month, but this will not be the case. ZUS is blind when it comes to the payment date.
500+ transfers will now be made from the 2nd until the 22nd of each month. As the Social Insurance Institution itself admits, the payment date is assigned automatically, randomly. The payout dates assigned by the algorithm are the 2nd, 4th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th and 22nd days of the month.
Fortunately, it will not be that every month we will get a transfer at a randomly selected date, but the date assigned once will accompany us until the end of the benefit period, i.e. until the end of May 2023. And what if our date falls on a statutory holiday in a given month? ? Then ZUS will transfer the funds the day before.
If someone does not want to wait for a transfer to find out what date has been assigned to him, he can always log in to the Electronic Services Platform (PUE) of ZUS and check it in the tab: Family 500+.
700+ program ?
Recently, the somewhat forgotten 500+ program, treated as something obvious by beneficiaries, has become loud due to rampant inflation. The benefit due to the lack of valorization has significantly lost its real value since 2017, and in recent weeks this devaluation of the benefit has significantly accelerated.
Some representatives of the ruling camp have already stated that the amount of the benefit should be reevaluated, and there is also talk of replacing the 500+ program with 700+. Law and Justice MP Paweł Lisiecki said recently that 500+ should be revalued by 40 percent.
Elżbieta Rafalska, the former minister of the family and the face of this government program, also recently spoke about the need to value 500+. “I believe that there should be an indexation every three years and now is a good time for that” , said the current MEP.
Source: Spidersweb Photo: PiS/Flickr
