Ignorance as a Determinant of the Administration of the Public Pension System in Poland

<ns3:p>In order to diagnose the functioning of the public pension scheme in Poland, it is necessary to know the extent of ignorance about the system among pension plan participants. The scale of this incomprehension significantly impacts the entities providing retirement education for the Polish society and should determine their further actions .The aim of the study was to determine the level of knowledge of active participants in the pension system, to understand the extent of their ignorance and to gather the respondents’ opinions on potential changes to the public retirement scheme. For the purposes of the study, research questions were formulated on the system’s funding principles, parametric solutions and the extent of ignorance and potential changes needed to improve the efficiency of the studied system.The study was carried out using a survey questionnaire on a sample of 502 active scheme participants.The study concludes that there is a need to take action to improve knowledge among scheme participants so that they can take informed and requisite actions to ensure a secure existence in old age. To this end, participants should be motivated to improve their comprehension of the pension plan, be offered appropriate educational opportunities, and the level of knowledge of the scheme should be analysed on a regular basis.</ns3:p>