Concept for legal and economic changes to the pension insurance of farmers

Abstract

Motivation: The study presents the current conditions for receiving the agricultural pension from the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund (KRUS) and the rules for calculating it. They are organised in such a way that the longer the insurance period of the insured person, the lower the so-called supplementary part of their pension than in the case of the insured person with the shorter insurance period. In addition, since 2011, persons insured in KRUS and having farms with an area of more than 50 ha of utilised agricultural area have been obliged to pay higher amounts for their pension insurance which do not have any impact on the level of benefits received. Farmers who also run business activities are treated by the insurance legislation in a similar manner. Hence, there is a need to make changes to the legal and economic regulations in KRUS, which would reflect the new conditions of management in Poland after 1989 and the solutions existing in the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS).

Aim: The objective of the study is to identify the regulations related to agricultural pension insurance which are inadequate in relation to the existing conditions of management in our country and to the solutions existing in ZUS. In addition, the objective of the paper is to propose changes to the insurance regulations of KRUS concerning the rules for calculating pensions and the definition of special branches of agricultural production. Also, the effects of these changes from the viewpoint of the insured person have been presented.

Results: The result of the study is a proposal for changes to the rules for calculating pensions for farmers insured in KRUS. The paper proposes to split the pension from KRUS into three parts: the contribution part, supplementary part and capital part. The proposals presented differentiate the pension amount depending on the insurance period and additionally paid contributions. The paper proposes to extend the special branches of agricultural production and to adopt income they generate at the level of 50% of the average salary in the national economy or at the level of the minimum wage as a criterion for access to insurance in KRUS.