Overview of Social Insurance in Namibia Social Protection Conference July 2015 Presented by: DA Keendjele 30/06/2015 1

Presentation content 1.Background 2.Social Insurance Context 3.Situation prior to independence 4.Social Security Research for Namibia 5.Creation of Social Security Insurance Funds/Schemes 6.Experience for Short term (ST) SSI schemes 7.Coverage by Schemes and Statistics ( ) 8.Admin lessons learned from ST Social Security Funds 9.Conclusion 30/06/2015 2

Background Namibia was colonized for over 100 by Germany, GB and SA. Independence was attained on March 21, 1990, after protracted liberation wars. South Africa (SA) was the colonial master at the time and the SA laws were applicable in Namibia. Limited social insurance (employment injury protection) was available through the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 30 of Social protection was not readily available to the majority workers. 30/06/20153

Contract labour system was prevalent prior to independence. There was limited social insurance schemes through collective bargaining, e.g. occupational pensions schemes There was no legislation that offered social protection to workers for contingencies like maternity, sickness or disability other than as a result of employment injury. Private schemes that offered benefits to workers were not accessible or affordable to many workers. Coverage was limited and bias towards adverse selection. 30/06/ Background… (2)

Social Insurance Context Research was carried by the ILO in 1992, gave rise to the adoption of social insurance concept by GRN. ILO recommended adoption of social insurance based on its minimum standards. Namibia Social Insurance was thus based on the following principles: –It has to be financed by shared contributions between employer & employee –Participation is compulsory, with very few exceptions, e.g. ECF wage ceiling. –Contributions are accumulated in a Fund out of which benefits are paid –Surplus funds are invested to earn further income –The right to benefits is secured by member’s participation Future social insurance schemes likely to follow the above principles 30/06/2015 5

Social Security Research, 1992 First Namibian Labour Act was passed in 1992 Provision for Social security was not included in the Labour Act, No 6 of ILO did a study the implementation of Social security and recommended its design Recommendations from the ILO study were used to draft the Social Security Act, 1994 Tripartite consultations followed on the design 30/06/20156

SSC Social Insurance Funds The Social Security Act was passed into law in A tripartite Social Security Commission was created to be the Trustee of Social Insurance Funds. With powers and duties of SSC, inter alia, to:- –administer Social Security Funds and –advise Minister regarding the application of the Act SSC took over the administration of the Employees Compensation Fund with effect from 1 March Social Security Regulations were passed to enable the registration of members with Maternity-, Sick leave- and Death Benefit Fund, within 90 days as of 1 Nov, /06/2015 7

Experience for ST-SSI schemes Regulations under the SSA placed obligation on employers to register with the MSD Fund. Employers were further obliged to deduct the prescribed contributions from employees, add equal amount and pay such over to SSC within 30 days. SSC was obliged to issue membership certificates to registered members. SSC should also keep an active register of members of Funds. A waiting period of six (6) months was set in the Reg(s) to qualify for benefits under MSD. Benefits are payable as lump sum or periodical up to 24 months. Thus Short-Term (ST). 30/06/2015 8

Experience for ST-SSI schemes..2 The rules for MSD and ECF needed different approaches to administer, especially IT programs MSD is straight forward and ECF is complex in nature; –MSD has one rate for contributions of 1.8% shares equally. –ECF has many rates and various formulae for benefits Revenue collection is done once per annum under ECF while under MSD it is done monthly, without invoices. Employers and employees confuse the two funds and some register only with one fund Funeral grant and Death Benefits can both be paid, while provision to pay out of one fund is made under Sick leave and IOD cases. 30/06/2015 9

COVERAGE & FUNDS STATS 30/06/ MSD FUNDEC ACCIDENT Fund ACCIDENT PENSION FUND CASES COVERED EMPLOYERS (1996) (2014) (1996) (2014) N/a COVERED EMPLOYEES (1996) (2014)N/a Fund started in 1990 AVG. CLAIMS REPORTED, P.A (1996)* (2014) * Base year (1996) (2014) 649 (Private) 326 (Public)

Admin Lessons for ST -SSI There was a requirement for registration fee of N$10 per member, which was later abolished. Employees working for less than 3 days per week for same employer were excluded till November Employment practices of some employers contradicted the provisions of SSA, e.g. “6 Cent” employees and utilizing annual vacation leave for maternity leave. Basic salary was defined to be not less than $300 and not more than $3000 per month. This remained static for some years, but now stands at $9 000 & N$ There is a need to address the burden of double contributions paid by the self employed persons. 30/06/

Admin Lessons for ST –SSI..2 There is requirement to re-register each time you change employment. This poses data capturing challenges. Revenue is collected from employer and no individual accounts for employees are kept by the fund. Admin costs are shared by the active funds, in relation to their size, as agreed with the Auditor General. Benefits are not indexed but are reviewed on ad-hoc basis, and on recommendation of the Actuary. Pension increase follow the same process and these remain static for some time. GRN is the only exempted employer from the ECF. Appeal mechanism from members still under developed. 30/06/

Conclusions The need to reform SSI, expand coverage and update legislation should remain the main focus. The need is there to expand coverage of schemes to more members, especially to the informal sector. Lessons learned of short term administration of Social Insurance can be used to implement long term SSI schemes. –E.g. Having adequate (IT) systems to administer long term schemes prior to implementation thereof. Address the gaps in the social security safety net due to the absence of long term social insurance schemes. Need for National Social Policy to do all the above. 30/06/