MAKING THE NATIONAL TRANSITION TO A ONE-STOP SHOP IN SOCIAL ASSISTANCE REFORM OF THE SLOVENIAN SOCIAL ASSISTANCE SYSTEM Davor Dominkuš Sašo Domijan Jernej Čop

REFORM OF THE SLOVENIAN FINANCIAL SOCIAL ASSISTANCE SYSTEM PART ONE REFORM OF THE SLOVENIAN FINANCIAL SOCIAL ASSISTANCE SYSTEM Davor Dominkuš, Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities of the Republic of Slovenia

Situation BEFORE 2012 Means-tested benefits and subsidies depending on a person’s or family’s material situation were granted on a basis of different criteria; Procedures were based on different legal foundation and conducted by different authorities (schools, social work centers, Pension and Invalidity Insurance Institute, local communities); Different definitions of income, family and other elements of means testing were used; In some cases only income was taken into account, in others the property was also considered.

Situation BEFORE 2012 System was not transparent, it enabled abuse and accumulation of different rights in some groups and it was not enough support for high-risk-of poverty groups; Databases on recipients were not linked, centralized; Not enough focus on activation measures for the recipients of social assistance; Low level of minimum income for long-term beneficiaries (people who were not capable of work).

New regulation Exercise of Rights to Public Funds Act Main objectives: More transparent, efficient and user-friendly distribution of social transfers and subsidies; Change in conditions for entitlement to different rights in order to motivate a person to work and reduce a risk of poverty and unemployment; Harmonisation of criteria for granting 4 types of social transfers and 8 types of subsidies that are means-tested.

New regulation Exercise of Rights to Public Funds Act Main changes / solutions: Single unified definitions of persons, family, income and property taken into account when exercising a right to a certain social transfer; Defining a priority order for exercising the rights to social transfers; Introduction of one stop shop (social work centres) for exercising the rights to social transfers – simplification of the system; Introduction of a central database of rights to public funds (centralised information system).

New regulation Financial Social Assistance Act Main changes / solutions: Social security for the most vulnerable groups; Reorganisation of financial social assistance, disability benefits and income support for pensioners; Introduction of a new (higher) basic level of minimum income (MI)(increased from 229 € to 288 €); Introduction of two supplements to MI : - activity supplement for beneficiaries actively solving their situation (amount depending on duration and character of the activity – up to 0.56% of the MI for activity over 128 hours/month: 161.7 €) - supplement for long-term beneficiaries not capable of work or older than 63/65 (together with MI amounting to 450 €)

RIGHTS cash benefits: subsidies and REDUCED payments: CHILD (BENEFIT) ALLOWANCE FINANCIAL SOCIAL ASSISTANCE INCOME SUPPORT (FOR PENSIONERS and PEOPLE LONG-TERM INCAPABLE OF WORK) STATE SCHOLARSHIPS subsidies and REDUCED payments: reduced kindergarten fee subsidy for school meals (lunch/snack )in elementary and high schools exemption from payment of social care services contribution to the payment of a family assistant rent subsidy subsidy covering the difference to full value of health care services payment of contribution for compulsory health insurance

Social work centers: one-stop shop single-entry point: single entry point for all means tested social rights = social work centers; One application per applicant (no supporting documents needed); Priority order for exercising rights; Single scale for determining entitlement to social rights (based on current scale for child benefit; except for financial social assistance and income support for pensioners); Simplified procedure supported by centralized information system;

PART TWO IT support for the implementation of the Exercise of Rights to Public Funds Act Jernej Čop, Sašo Domjan

OBJECTIVES OF A NEW SYSTEM The following information is needed: personal status, income, property, statuses. The implementation of the act requires information systems capable of ensuring and exchanging data in real time on the basis of standardized legal and information infrastructure at institutions, provided for by the act as the data sources.

DATA ADMINISTRATION AUTHORITIES OF 42 DATA SOURCES Ministry of interior (MI); Ministry of Defence (MD); Ministry of Education and Sport (MES); Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (MHEST); Social Work Centres (SWC); The Pension and Invalidity Insurance Institute of Slovenia (PIII); The Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (HII); The Employment Service of Slovenia (ESS); The Public Guarantee and Maintenance Found of the Republic of Slovenia (PGMF); Tax Administration of the Republic of Slovenia (TA); The Surveying and Mapping Authority of the Republic of Slovenia (SMA); Administrative units (AU); Prison Administration of the Republic of Slovenia (PA); Slovenian Maritime Administration (MA); Local Courts (LC); Central Securities Clearing Corporation (CSCC); The Agency of The Republic of Slovenia for Public Legal Records and Related Services (APLRRS); Pension Founds (PF); Municipalities (M); Credit institutions/Banks (CI); Asset Management Companies (AMC); Stock Brokerage Companies (SBC); Regional Development Agencies (RDA); Slovene Human Resources Development and Scholarship Fund (SHRDSF).

PROJECT DETECTION Institutions where data sources are located - determination of the legal infrastructure and IT infrastructure for each source; Data catalogue defining exact range of availability, legal basis and frequency of data gathering for each source; Agreement on the exchange of data (Service level agreements - SLA); Tenders for the information system operators (Tenders); Organizational and logistical projects (new employment, facilities, equipment, ICT equipment,…); Education and training of users at SWC; Users support (help desk); Promotion.

PROJECTS AT THE MLFSA Development of the e-Social Work Centre module (e-SWC); Portal MLFSA; Implementation of Document management support system; Data catalogue B51 ( title ‘B51’ according to the Article 51); Education and training of users at the SWC, MLFSA and other institutions; Implementation of service desk for supporting of the new legislation; Setting-up organizational and human resource conditions for implementing the e-Social Security project at the MLFSA.

Rights vs data sources

SOCIAL CASH TRANSFERS (BENEFITS) IN 2013 Approx. 1 billion per year Which means 3% GDB per capita (per year per person).

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! ANY QUESTIONS? http://www.mddsz.gov.si/