The government is working on the internship bill. The state may subsidize companies.

The draft is intended to end unpaid internships and introduce employment contracts for interns. Deputy Minister of Science Marek Gzik says financial support for internship organizers is being considered.

The Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers is dealing today, Thursday, 29 October, with the draft internship bill (UD307). It was prepared by the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy. The draft provides for the complete abolition of unpaid internships on the open labour market, reports pulsHR (opens in a new tab).

The internship organizer would conclude an internship agreement with the intern, that is, a fixed-term employment contract. They would also have to appoint a supervisor and develop an internship program. The internship would last no more than six months, and the remuneration for a full month could not be lower than 65 percent of the minimum wage. The legality of internships would be monitored by the National Labour Inspectorate. One of the aims of the draft is to eliminate unpaid graduate internships and limit the replacement of regular jobs with internships.

Detailed calculations are provided by the bezprawnik.pl (opens in a new tab) portal. According to it, the law is to come into force on 1 January 2027. With the planned minimum wage of PLN 4,950 gross, a full-time intern would receive at least about PLN 3,217.50 gross. The portal estimates the employer's cost including contributions at about PLN 3,800 per month, that is more than PLN 22,000 for a six-month internship. For violations of the regulations, the organizer would face a fine from PLN 2,000 to PLN 60,000. All these calculations may change, because the draft is still at the government work stage.

Employers' organizations are raising objections. The Lewiatan Confederation believes that interns should not be employed under employment contracts. Piotr Rogowiecki from Employers of Poland assesses that the changes “may produce the opposite effects”. Small and medium-sized companies point out that without extensive HR departments, it is difficult for them to delegate an employee to the role of supervisor.

Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education Prof. Marek Gzik told pulsHR about the draft: “It should not be ruled out that changes will be introduced to it”. He added: “It is being considered whether the state could somehow financially support the organization of internships”.

According to Statistics Poland (GUS), unemployment measured using the LFS method (Labour Force Survey) amounted to 3.2 percent in the second quarter of 2026. In the 15-24 age group, it reached 11 percent.

For companies that today take on interns without pay, the new regulations would mean the costs of paid internships and additional HR obligations - according to bezprawnik.pl, from 2027.