Uniformed personnel with housing benefits. Up to PLN 1,800 also for SW

On Thursday, the Senate supported the amendment to the act that introduces universal housing benefits for Prison Service officers. The monthly amount will range from PLN 900 in smaller towns to PLN 1,800 in Warsaw. The amendment will now be signed by the president.

91 senators voted for the amendment to the Prison Service Act, no one was against and no one abstained from voting.

The Ministry of Justice, which prepared the amendment to the regulations, emphasized that this amendment would simplify and standardize the housing support system. The benefit for Prison Service officers will be universal and is modeled on a similar system operating in services subordinated to the Ministry of Interior and Administration.

According to the act, each officer will be entitled to the benefit every month, and its amount will depend on the location of the unit in which he or she serves – from PLN 900 in smaller towns to PLN 1,800 in Warsaw.

The amount of the benefit will be determined as the product of the basic rate (planned to be PLN 600) and the location multiplier established for the organizational unit of the PS where the officer serves. “Location multipliers will be at the level of: 3 – for the capital city of Warsaw, 2.5 – for cities with the seats of voivodes or voivodeship marshals, 2 – for cities with poviat rights and cities with the seats of poviat authorities and 1.5 – for other towns,” we read in the justification for the changes.

The following periods will be excluded from the right to benefits: unpaid leave (excluding parental leave), suspension from official duties or temporary arrest. The benefit will not differentiate officers depending on their length of service and will also cover spouses serving in the formation.

“As a result, there will be one unified housing benefit in the Prison Service, which will streamline the process of considering officers' applications and the procedure for granting and paying benefits,” the Ministry of Justice noted.

The amendment, which was created on the basis of the agreement of March this year. between the Ministry of Justice and the Prison Service and trade unions, it also assumes the extinction of existing forms of housing support in the Prison Service, including: financial assistance for the purchase of premises. (PAP)

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