The ISSA Technical Seminar on social security coverage for platform and self-employed workers in Europe will take place in Warsaw, Poland, 8–9 November 2023. It is organized by the ISSA European Network (IEN) and hosted by the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych – ZUS) of Poland.

Social security coverage rates in Europe are among the highest in the world. However, ensuring comprehensive and adequate coverage for platform workers and the self-employed constitutes a significant challenge across the continent. Limited legal coverage and difficulties in securing effective access for these two groups of workers have received significant attention during the COVID-19 pandemic and are being exacerbated by the rapidly evolving platform economy. Solutions and strategies rely on a combination of regulatory measures and innovations by social security institutions.

Starting with a review of labour market developments in Europe impacting social security systems, the first day of the IEN Technical Seminar will focus on recent approaches to enhancing social security coverage for platform workers. This will include regulatory initiatives regarding the classification of employment status, adaptations to social security systems and innovative institutional measures to facilitate registration, collection, data sharing and awareness.

Regardless of employment status classification issues, a significant share of in-situ (those who are in the same location as their client) and especially of online platform workers will in practice be considered as self-employed workers. This development exacerbates the challenge of the currently often limited social security coverage of the self-employed.

The second day of the seminar will therefore focus on recent approaches towards comprehensive and sustainable social security coverage for self-employed workers. It will review the current status of coverage of the self-employed in Europe and analyze trends towards making self-employed workers’ coverage more comprehensive through access to unemployment, work injury and other benefits. The exchanges will also consider institutional innovations and good practices to ensure effective coverage through awareness raising measures, facilitated procedures and other mechanisms.

The IEN Technical Seminar will bring together academic insight, good practices and innovations from ISSA member institutions and the research and strategies of international organizations.

The working languages will be English and French and it is open to representatives of ISSA member institutions from Europe, as well as invited participants. There is no registration fee for ISSA members.