On 1 January 2019, the Act on Employee Pension Schemes will enter into force, introducing a new method of saving for retirement – employee pension schemes.

The introduction of the employee pension schemes will take place in several phases. Initially, the obligation to create a scheme will apply only to employers with at least 250 employees, but the ultimate target is that all employers in Poland will be obliged to create a scheme.

Employers will be able to opt out of the obligation to create a pension scheme if they adopted employee pension programme in which at least 25% of the employees participate and the employers pay contributions of at least 3.5% of employee’s remuneration.

According to the new rules, contributions to employee pension schemes will be financed by the employer (1.5% of the remuneration) and by the employee (2% of the remuneration) with the limited option of increase.