Poland is witnessing several discussions about the situation of the young generation. One concerns the implementation and effects of the “Family 800 +” scheme (former 500+, described in Section 4.6 Access to Quality Services). Its main positive effects include substantial and rapid reduction in poverty, especially among children and adolescents, resulting in very high social support for the scheme. The major controversies are, however, about the actual and long-term impact of the scheme on improvement of the demographic situation, the mechanisms affecting primarily single parents, the possibility of fraud, the financial security of the State in the face of such high social security expenditures. According to the analysis by dr. Izabela Bień, specialist for social issues in the Sejm Analysis Bureau the initial goals of the programme have only been partially completed, because its influence on the demographic situation in Poland was negligible, and economic results short-term. While the programme helped to decrease poverty among children, similar results might have been accomplished with less resources. The analysis also points at the difficulties in providing a complex and extensive appraisal of the social and economic effects of the programme due to the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite of all of this, starting on the 1st of January 2024, the benefit was increased (in accordance with election promises) to 800 PLN. However, due to the fact that the Family 800+ is the single largest item in the Polish budget, and that the Poland is threatened by the EU’s excessive deficit procedures, there is increasing talk about restricting the benefit, based either on an income criterion, or on limiting the benefit to families with at least one working parent. 

An important voice in this discussion belongs to the view of social researchers that claim that the family-centric approach (central to the 800+ programme) can, within a few years, change into a relatively unimportant part of a family budget, especially in the light of high inflation (which leads to the possibility of further increasing the benefit). From this point of view, it would be more beneficial to enact children-centric policies, such as developing the network of public services that children use (mainly investing into education, free time, personal development). Such approach provides better opportunities for permanently freeing from poverty the children that grow up in the conditions of social exclusion.

An on-going challenge for social policy is found in the mass migration of Ukrainian population due to the Russian invasion in February 2022. Arrival of 2 million people, mostly women with children, leads to a need to create systemic solutions in the area of housing, labour market, health care, and education. Those people are mainly supported through actions by local governments, NGOs, and individual citizens (volunteers, donation-givers, and families accepting refugees into their homes). Cultural differences, however apparently insignificant, may pose a problem. According the report “A low cultural distance is not synonymous with the absence of cultural differences which, even if small, should not be underestimated. Awareness of the existence of cultural differences and understanding them is important for Polish-Ukrainian relations, but also for appropriately addressed actions aimed at integrating Ukrainians into Polish society and preventing potential conflicts and misunderstandings. Examples of differences that will need to be tackled could include gender equality and the role of women and men in society.”

An additional challenge for integration of Ukrainian youth and children in Poland is a lack of a system to monitor their activity in education. According to the Amnesty International’s report We Are Here Together: Ukrainian students in Polish schools: (Jesteśmy tutaj razem. Uczniowie i uczennice z Ukrainy w polskich szkołach): “Towards the end of November 2022, in Polish educational facilities, there were 191 576 students from Ukraine who arrived since the 24th of February, 2022. It is estimated that in 2022, between 150 to 200 thousand refugee children in Poland remained outside of the education system. For that reason, the government decided that starting with the 2024/25 school year, receiving family benefits by Ukrainian families will be contingent on their children attending the Polish school system. 

The  In Poland it is observed increasing stratification in education. More and more parents send their children to private or social schools, or decide to homeschool their children using, e.g., the Open School system (Szkoła Otwarta). This trend can lead to an emergence of a permanent stratification and inequality in educational chances based on parents’ financial status. Until the change of government at the end of 2023, the reasons for this state of affairs were mainly attributed to the increasing ideological bent of the educational system, its constant reforms and attempts at making it subordinate to governmental institutions. Unfortunately, the reform of the education system after the government change failed to be as thorough as had been hoped. For now, 30- and 33% percent raises for teachers have been introduced, alongside (divisive) reductions in homework in elementary school, changes to the school curricula, removal of religious education grades from school certificates and (which caused an open conflict with the Church) made it possible to have different years attend religious education classes jointly. New standards of protection for children have been introduced to schools, and a reform of the civic education programmes is being planned. For many actors in the education system, this is way too little. However, the Ministry of National Education (once again separated from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education) is opting for evolutionary, not revolutionary changes.

As it turned out, after the 2023 election, the leading campaign issues did not lose any salience. The parliamentary majority continues to be divided on the issue of the housing market, especially regarding young people.  Political parties that constitute the ruling coalition present ideas that move in two general directions: subsidizing the purchase of the first apartment or subsidizing development of building housing projects with the idea of renting the apartments out, including by local governments.