Social Economy Act, Poland
SOCIAL
Adopted in August 2022, the Social Economy Act is the first legal framework to define and regulate the social economy in Poland. The social economy is defined as 'the activity of social economy entities for the benefit of the local community in the fields of social and vocational reintegration, job creation for those at risk of social exclusion, and the provision of social services, carried out in the form of economic activity, public benefit activity, and other gainful activities'.
Entities of the social economy include social co-operatives, occupational therapy workshops, professional activity centres, social integration centres and clubs, workers' co-operatives and agricultural co-operatives, non-governmental organisations (with some exceptions) and entities referred to in the 2003 Act on public benefit activities and volunteering. The Act also introduces the social enterprise status, which can only be held by social economy entities, as defined by law, that carry out commercial activities.
Before the adoption of the Social Economy Act, several strategic documents were issued, including the National Programme for the Development of Social Economy (until 2030), the Social Services Development Strategy (until 2030), the National Programme for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion (2021-27), and the Action Plan for Inclusion and Social Inclusion. The Social Economy Act formalises the social economy within a legal framework, resulting from policy and governmental efforts.
The term 'social enterprise' emerged in Poland in 2005 with the launch of the EQUAL Community Initiative. The first parliamentary draft bill on the social economy was drawn up in 2015, but there was no further legislative progress. In April 2017, the government introduced a preliminary outline of the Act on the Social and Solidarity Economy, followed by the presentation of the full draft in May 2019, which launched a formal public consultation phase. Progress accelerated in 2021 when the law was incorporated into Poland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, securing funding from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility. The Act was finally adopted by the Sejm (the lower house of the Polish bicameral parliament) on 5 August 2022.
By mid-2023, a total of 785 entities had obtained social enterprise status under the Social Economy Act, enacted in 2022. The Act also grants social economy entities tax exemptions and employee benefits, along with special provisions for traditional enterprises. Traditional businesses with at least 25 employees can reduce their contributions to the State Fund for the Rehabilitation of Disabled People (PFRON) by purchasing goods and services from social enterprises that employ a minimum of 10 workers, at least 30% of whom are persons with disabilities.
According to a 2019 survey by Statistics Poland, the Act covers approximately 90,000 social economy entities, including 1 400 cooperatives and 88 600 non-profit organisations. Among cooperatives, the majority are social cooperatives (65.7%), followed by workers' cooperatives (26.3%), and cooperatives for people with disabilities and the visually impaired (8%). Non-profit organisations are mainly categorised as associations (78.9%) and foundations (17.3%), with smaller numbers of religious entities (2%) and local or agricultural circles (1.9%). By the end of 2019, social economy entities – including NGOs, co-operatives, and reintegration units – employed around 199 100 people.
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