How to Apply for a Refund of the Costs of Equipping or Upgrading a Workstation?

Who is entitled to apply for funding from the labour office?

Companies, non-governmental organisations, nurseries, children’s clubs and people engaged in agricultural activity may apply for support. The funding conditions are set out in the Regulation of the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy of 21 November 2025 on applications and the implementation of agreements for funding the commencement of business activity and for the refund of the costs of equipping or upgrading a workstation (Journal of Laws of 2025, item 1645).

The basic condition for receiving the funds is conducting business activity continuously for at least six months before the date on which the documents are submitted. This period does not include any time during which the company was suspended.

The offices also carefully verify the entity’s financial and staffing situation. A company applying for a grant may not have any arrears in paying contributions to the Social Insurance Institution, the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund or taxes to the Tax Office. During the previous six months, the employer must not have reduced the working hours of its employees or terminated their contracts for reasons attributable to the workplace.

For example, a carpentry workshop employing five carpenters will be refused funding for a new position if it dismissed one employee two months earlier because of staff reductions. The applicant must also not have unpaid administrative penalties for violating labour-law regulations.

What expenses does workstation-upgrade support cover?

Money from the labour office has a strictly defined purpose and may be used exclusively to prepare the technical facilities for a new employee. An entrepreneur may use it to purchase fixed assets, equipment, machinery and computer software.

The purchases must be directly related to the profile of the workplace being created. For a programmer’s position, the purchase of a high-performance computer, additional monitors and specialist licences would be justified. In a production plant, workshop or warehouse, in turn, the funds may cover the cost of processing machinery, forklifts and employee furniture such as clothing lockers, which are an absolute requirement under occupational health and safety regulations.

PUP takes a strict approach to the list of ineligible expenses. Regulations may exclude the costs of transporting ordered equipment, handling fees, lease instalments, subscriptions, taxes and introductory training for employees. The purchase of passenger cars is usually on the list of absolute exclusions, unless the position being created directly concerns mobile services or sales representation and the office’s internal regulations expressly allow such an exception.

What is the limit of funding from PUP?

The amount of support is linked to the current average wage in the economy, published regularly by Statistics Poland. The Act specifies the upper limits, but individual labour offices set their own rules and often reduce the maximum rate in order to distribute the budget among a larger number of local businesses. The amount often depends on the declared period of employment for the new employee. It is worth remembering that an entrepreneur who is an active VAT payer receives a refund of the net amount and deducts the tax in standard returns. Entities exempt from VAT receive refunds of gross amounts.

Procedure stages and submitting refund documents

Breaking the required sequence most often closes the path to obtaining funding. A rule frequently violated by many beginner entrepreneurs is the requirement to submit a complete set of documents and then sign an agreement with PUP before actually hiring the new employee.

The grant-award procedure is based on specific steps:

• Accurately completing the application form downloaded from the website of the relevant labour office, including preparing a precise cost estimate and defining the duties for the newly created position.

• Compiling attachments confirming the company’s legal status, the right to use the premises (title deed or lease agreement), and certificates confirming the absence of public-law arrears.

• Submitting the documents to the office and awaiting substantive and formal assessment, which by law takes up to 30 days from delivery of the complete application.

• Signing a civil-law agreement with the PUP director, providing security, making purchases from the company’s own account and submitting invoices to account for the grant, and only then hiring the referred unemployed person.

Most common formal errors and legal pitfalls

Lack of precision when preparing cost estimates is the most serious reason for delays or the complete rejection of documents. Company owners often enter general equipment names in tables, such as “computer” or “construction machine”, instead of providing exact specifications, for example, “office laptop with an i5 processor, 16 GB of RAM and the Windows operating system”. The absence of such specifications may make it difficult for an official to verify whether the declared purchase cost corresponds to market rates. Moreover, every subsequent change to an approved cost estimate requires an official annex to the agreement. Independently purchasing a different equipment model results in the expense being rejected during settlement.

Failure to meet invoice deadlines is also a serious violation. Bills dated before the day the agreement with the labour office was signed are removed from the pool of eligible costs. Offices require an electronic trail of cash flows, so paying invoices in cash often disqualifies them from reimbursement—the payment for equipment must be made from the applicant’s company bank account.

The referred employee must not be dismissed before the period specified in the agreement has expired. If the employment relationship ends through no fault of the employer (e.g. the employee gives notice), the entrepreneur will be required to hire another person from the office’s register. Failure to comply with the agreement entails an obligation to repay the entire amount received, increased by statutory interest.