The Polish Supreme Audit Office recently conducted an audit of the assistance provided in Poland to those displaced by the ongoing war against Ukraine. It concluded that assistance was vast, comprehensive, and usually implemented correctly and effectively by both government and local government units. Additional support was provided by non-governmental organisations, which were commissioned to perform some reception-related tasks.

The published audit report identifies a few shortcomings on the part of the government, including a lack of monitoring and evaluation of the impact of spending on assistance. It also notes that local government units did not always consider applications for the payment of cash benefits to Ukrainians and their private hosts in a timely manner, nor did they always reliably verify applications for financial support from private individuals hosting people displaced from Ukraine.

The audit covered the period from the outbreak of war at the end of February 2022 to April 2023. During this period, PLN 14 billion (approximately EUR 3.25 billion) was disbursed from the specially created Relief Fund. Aid mainly included accommodation and food, psychological, medical and legal assistance, cleaning and personal hygiene products, a one-off cash benefit of PLN 300 per person, family benefits, financial support of PLN 40 per day per person for hosting by private citizens, and integration activities. The rules for provision of assistance were laid out in the Act on assistance to citizens of Ukraine in connection with the armed conflict on the territory of this state, which the Parliament passed on 12 March 2022.

The Polish government established an Inter-ministerial committee to monitor the preparedness of the public administration to receive refugees from Ukraine and a Government Plenipotentiary for War Refugees from Ukraine. To better identify the needs of Ukrainians, the Ministry of the Interior and Administration conducted a survey among them. Helplines for Ukrainians operated at the level of voivodeships and cities.

Within a year of the start of the war, almost one million people benefited from assistance provided under the Special Act on assistance. The vast majority of them (87%) were women and children.