Unemployment benefits will cease from January 2026, when a new type of benefit - unemployment insurance benefit at the basic rate of half of the previous year's minimum wage - will apply. Compared to unemployment benefit, the basic unemployment benefit will be slightly higher per calendar day. 

 

The basic benefit is paid for up to 180 calendar days and is payable to those who have been insured for at least 8 months in the last three years, regardless of the reason for termination. In addition, income-related unemployment insurance benefits will continue to be paid as they are today to those who are involuntarily dismissed and have a minimum unemployment insurance record of 12 months.

 

Unemployment benefits are available to registered unemployed people who left their job of their own free will, by agreement between the parties, because they were in breach of their own employment obligations or because their unemployment insurance period was too short. Unemployed persons who were engaged in activities treated as work, who were bringing up a child under the age of 8 or a disabled child, who were studying, caring for a relative or in hospital, who were in custody or serving a sentence in a detention centre, in the period preceding their registration. From the beginning of 2026, they will no longer be entitled to unemployment benefit, but will be able to apply for subsistence benefits from their local authority if necessary.

 

From the new year, there will be two types of industrial insurance benefit - an earnings-related benefit and a basic unemployment benefit. You will no longer be able to receive benefits twice for the same period of work.