Health care is a vital component of any comprehensive social security system and an important priority for members of the International Social Security Association (ISSA). The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored this fact, highlighting the need for sustainable, adaptable and resilient health care systems capable of ensuring universal access to affordable and effective care. Achieving this is not simple. Health is a complex and challenging branch of social security, requiring an array of coordinated inputs and structures to meet health care needs.

The lack of social security coverage for the self-employed has recently attracted significant attention in Europe. Changes in the world of work, including the rising prevalence of platform work, have led to an increasing number of self-employed workers with lower incomes. These trends, together with the COVID-19 pandemic, have shed light on the historically insufficient protection for the self-employed across the region.

Europe as a region is characterized as having achieved comprehensive social security coverage, yet still faces challenges in ensuring access to social security and preventing the non-take-up of benefits. This article presents a synthesis of discussions held during a technical seminar organized with the ISSA European Network (IEN).

Innovative capacity is a key enabler of a better social security. Building innovation friendly institutions and integrating innovation in organizational processes requires strategic vision, leadership and a commitment to promote creativity and collaboration across units and teams.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making rapid inroads into the public sector as agencies pursue greater efficiency, greater quality and more personalized services for their customers. Social security institutions are no exception. While the applications of AI are varied – each with its own far-reaching implications – “conversational AI” or “chatbots” have been leading the way in terms of AI adoption by government agencies.

Digital technologies are fundamentally transforming how public services are designed and delivered. This article zooms in on the implementation of digital inclusion strategies among European ISSA member institutions.

Forward-looking members of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) are using behavioural insights as a lens to re-examine existing policies, programmes and services, or to develop new ones. The approach offers a powerful new set of tools to expand and deepen the client-centric orientation of social security, and to ensure the close alignment of services with public goals and desired policy outcomes. 

No one could have imagined nor anticipated the global disruptions that happened in 2020. For many social security institutions, the severe health risks and safety protocols of the pandemic required a seismic shift of operations to digital technologies. In one fell swoop, teleworking, online platforms and mobile apps replaced the face-to-face, paper-based transactions of social security. The blending of human insight with digital technologies is the ace in the sleeve of every chief executive officer (CEO). Through an astute blending of human-and-digital solutions, social security continues to deliver on its mandate by ably navigating the first and succeeding waves of the pandemic.

As part of the wider economic stimulus packages to respond to the second wave of COVID-19, governments continue to temporarily defer the collection of social security contributions (SSC), or to exempt from or reduce the contribution payments of some population groups. To date, 68 countries have introduced at least one of these measures (ISSA Coronavirus Country Measures Monitor). An April 2020 communication from the European Commission supported these as a “valuable tool to reduce the liquidity constraints of undertakings and preserve employment” during the COVID-19 crisis (EC 2020a).

At the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, the immediate response of governments has been massive in both scale and coverage, to cushion the health, social and economic impacts of the pandemic. A raft of emergency measures were urgently implemented including ad hoc income transfers and unemployment benefits, targeted subsidies, free COVID-19 tests, subsidized health care and other support programmes. In many countries, governments have relied on social security institutions to distribute these subsidies and benefits, including to the most vulnerable groups especially low-income earners, informal sector workers, women, migrants and the youth.