The article undertakes an institutional analysis of the cur­rent social security system, highlighting its key weakness­es, including the dispersion of regulations and inconsistent rules regarding insurance coverage, as well as the ongoing pension privileges granted to certain professional groups. In light of changes to the labour market, the growth of non-standard employment, demographic shifts (an ageing population and migration) and the increasing diversity of pension benefits in terms of gender, age and professional status, the legislator must reconsider the structure of the system. The proposed measures draw inspiration from the integration act of 1933, which successfully unified previous social security systems in a period of state reconstruction. The authors propose the development of a modern inte­gration act that takes into account historical experience and contemporary conditions to create a fairer, more trans­parent and sustainable pension system that meets the chal­lenges of the 21st century.

The adequacy of old-age pension systems depends on the efficiency of retirement plans offered to individuals. The purpose of this study was to identify which macroeconomic factors influence the investment efficiency of voluntary pension funds and employee pension funds in Poland. We verified whether there is any relationship between the rates of return of voluntary and employee pension funds and selected macroeconomic factors. We found that nominal and real rates of return of employee pension funds depend on the WIG rate of return. In case of voluntary pension funds higher nominal rates of return resulted from both more aggressive investment policy and better competencies of asset managers. The research findings are relevant for social policy as they provide useful information how to tailor investment policy of supplementary pension plans to better achieve the social and economic goals of the old-age pension system.