Biuro Pełnomocnika Rządu do Spraw Osób Niepełnosprawnych - Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Disabled People

Legal basis

Legal basis of the Office of the Plenipotentiary is laid down in the art. 34 paragraph 10 of the act on vocational and social rehabilitation and the employment of persons with disabilities.
The Plenipotentiary performs his task with the aid of the Office of the Plenipotentiary which forms a separate organizational unit in the Ministry of Family and Social Policy. The Office of the Plenipotentiary acts in accordance with its own regulations and it is supervised only by the Government Plenipotentiary for Disabled People.

Our Team

There are over 50 persons working currently in the Office of the Plenipotentiary and more than 14 % of its staff are persons with disabilities.

The office is headed by the Director of the Office of the Plenipotentiary who performs her task with the aid of one deputy.

Ms. Monika Rusin – Director of the Office of the Plenipotentiary

The Plenipotentiary's Office consists of 7 divisions and 2 independent units.

Division for Vocational Rehabilitation and Public Aid

• initiating, consulting and cooperation within the scope of drafting legal acts and improving existing legislation, including governmental assistance programmes related to vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities,
• consulting drafts of governmental programmes and other document resulting from national strategies and submitting reports on governmental programmes in part related to vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities,
• responses and interpretations of the provisions related to vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities,
• drafting information related to the impact of legislation in force and drafted regulations on the situation of persons with the disabilities on the labour market and in the area of employment as well as undertaking activities aimed at changing regulations in these fields,
• organization and conducting of trainings and conferences aimed at disseminating the knowledge and good practices in the field of vocational rehabilitation, public aid and employment of persons with disabilities.

Independent Unit for the Social Rehabilitation and Cooperation with the Local Government Units

• keeping central data base of centres and the organizers of holiday rehabilitation stays registered by the Voivode and editing a national directory of centres and the organizers of holiday rehabilitation stays,
• interpretation of legislation concerning social rehabilitation under the provisions of the Act on vocational and social rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities,
• interpretation of legislation in matters resulting from the Act on sign language and other means of communication,
• servicing the Polish Council of Sign Language,
• drafting annual reports on activities aimed at implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities mentioned in Parliamentary resolution of 1st August 1997 - the Charter of Rights for Persons with Disabilities,
• cooperation with the local government and institutions implementing activities within the framework of the operational programmes resulting  from National Strategic Reference Framework 2007-2013, particularly Human Capital Operational Programme,
• keeping the register of entities entitled to issue certificate confirming status of the assistance dog.

Division for Administrative Procedures

• Conducting administrative procedures on behalf of the Minister and preparing draft of Minister’s decision, particularly on:
• payments on State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled People
• status of sheltered workshops and vocational activity establishments
• co-financing of remunerations of disabled workers
• reimbursement of social insurance contributions
• certificate of granting de minimis aid
• compensations paid to the gmina for the incomes lost due to the exemption provided by the law
• reimbursement of payments allocated to the local government units with the use of an algorithm.

Division for the Supervision of the Disability Assessment

• drafting subsidiary materials for the specialists in disability assessment,
• conducting training for the member of voivodeship assessment teams (doctors, psychologists, teachers, social workers, career counselors, chairpersons and secretaries of assessment teams),
• conducting control of the voivodeship and poviat assessment teams
• furnishing assessment teams with the explanation on current legislation and procedures and on the compliance of proceedings of the assessment teams with the law,
• interpretation of legislation of disability status with reference to the act on vocational and social rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities,
• drafting legal acts on disability assessment.

Division for Analysis and International Co-operation

• initiating researches and analytical works in the field of disability,
• monitoring of social and demographic situation of disabled persons with a special focus on their situation on labour market,
• drafting information including proposal from researches in relation with supporting employment and rehabilitation of disabled persons,
• organizational and substantive oversight of statistical reports regarding registered unemployment of disabled persons, as well as the level of employment in sheltered workshops and vocational activity establishments,
• conducting international and European affairs regarding tasks of the Office of the Plenipotentiary,
• gathering and dissemination of information regarding activity led by international organizations in favour of disabled persons, particularly the European Union, Council of Europe and United Nations.
• Participation in works:
  • of the Disability High Level Group (DHLG)
  • of the Committee of Experts on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CS-RPD) of the Council of Europe
  • of the Independent Unit for Social Communication and Social Dialogue
• cooperation with non-governmental organization in matters concerning disability,
• organizing meetings, seminars and conferences regarding the issue of disability,
• organizational and technical support of the National Advisory Council for Persons with Disabilities,
• editing news for the Government Plenipotentiary website www.niepelnosprawni.gov.pl,
• dissemination of the information about the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Independent Unit for the Social Communication

• answering to the citizens’ letters,
• conducting procedures in cases stated in citizens’ complaints,
• intervention in cases submitted by citizens,
• providing clarifications and advices to the citizens in person or by phone.

Independent Workplace for Legislation

• preparation of draft normative acts concerning the issues of disability and other normative acts within the scope of the Office's activities,
• issuing opinions on draft normative acts and other documents prepared by organizational units of the Ministry or other ministries and central offices in the scope related to the issues of disabled people,
• issuing opinions on draft legal acts and other documents developed by European Union bodies and other international organizations.

Independent position of legal advisers

• legal services for the Office.