The key point of the Minister for Family, Labour and Social Policy, Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk’s Thursday's visit to Bydgoszcz was a press conference concerning the development of a network of institutions providing care for the youngest children.

The Minister also met with Michał Sztybl, the voivode of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian voivodeship, Deputy Voivode Piotr Hemmerling, and the Mayor of Bydgoszcz Rafał Bruska, Deputy Mayors Zofia Mackiewicz and Mirosław Kozłowicz, as well as the President of the Bydgoszcz City Council Monika Matowska.

More than 100,000 new spots in nurseries by 2029

Ensuring access to high-quality and affordable care for the youngest children is one of the priorities of the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy. By 2029, there will be more than 100,000 new spots for children up to the age of three - in nurseries, children's clubs and day carers across Poland. This is thanks to the Active Toddler programme with a budget of 6.5 billion PLN. The funds for the establishment and operation of the new care places comes from the European Funds for Social Development programme, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the state budget.

We go above and beyond for parents who want to combine work and family life and who want to bring children to this world,

said Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk at the press conference.

Active Toddler in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship

To date, we have contracted to create more than 70% of childcare spots (35,900) needed to meet the benchmark set in the National Recovery Plan (47,560) using the available funds.

All entities from the Kuyavian-Pomeranian voivodeship who signed an agreement to establish new care institutions within the framework of the Active Toddler programme already received funding. The agreements signed so far concern the creation of a total of 1,640 spots with the Recovery Plan funds.

Active Parent supports families with children

In addition to Active Toddler, the comprehensive system of care for the youngest children in Poland also includes Active Parent - a new programme of the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy. The programme provides up to 1,500 PLN a month for parents caring for a child up to the age of three (for children with disabilities, the amount grows to 1,900 PLN a month).

A total of 546 200 applications for 556 100 children were submitted to the Social Insurance Institution between 1 October 2024, when the call for applications started, and 4 March 2025. The total amount of funds paid out under the Active Parent programme between October 2024 and the end of February 2025 was 1.64 billion PLN. Approximately 961.5 million PLN was paid out under the Active in Nursery benefit.

What is the situation locally? By the end of February, benefits under the Active Parent programme were received by nearly 18,000 children in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian voivodeship, and 3,158 children in Bydgoszcz alone.

During this period, the total amount earmarked for the payment of benefits under the programme was 76.3 million PLN in the voivodeship and 15.5 million PLN in Bydgoszcz, respectively.