All social security benefits represent social transfers[1], either in cash or in kind, i.e. a transfer of income or services, from one group in a society to another, e.g from the active to the old, the healthy to the sick, or the affluent to the poor, among others.

Social transfers are organized through different social security schemes. These schemes can be classified in two major groups, according to their financing mechanisms: contributory schemes and non-contributory schemes. In any given country, several schemes of different types generally co-exist and may provide benefits for similar contingencies to different population groups.

2) Non-contributory schemes targeted towards the poor (means-tested schemes) usually use a targeting mechanisms that ensures that these programmes cover only those people whose means (usually their assets or income) fall under a certain threshold. Such targeted schemes are very diverse in their design and features. This diversity may manifest itself through the methods of targeting that are employed, the supplementary conditions required for beneficiaries to access benefits and the inclusion of other interventions that are delivered on top of the actual income transfer itself. Such non-contributory schemes include:

• (Non-conditional) minimum income support schemes, which are also often referred to as social assistance schemes, are schemes that provide cash benefits to poor people usually based on some form of means-test. Such schemes may also provide or facilitate access to benefits in kind, such as access to health care and other social services.
• Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) are schemes that provide cash benefits to poor people subject to the condition that they fulfil specific “behavioural” requirements. This may mean they must ensure their children attend school regularly or that they utilize basic preventative nutrition and health-care services;
• Employment guarantee schemes ensure access to a certain number of workdays per year to poor households, generally providing wages at a relatively low level (typically at the minimum wage level if this is adequately defined). Such programmes are one form of public employment programmes which are often referred to as “public works” programmes. Some employment guarantee schemes employ a means-test, while others use self-targeting mechanisms based on the assumption that the low wages provided will attract only those with a genuine need.

Social transfers are, in their essential nature, a public responsibility, and are typically provided through public institutions. However, the delivery of social security can be, and often is, mandated to private entities or nongovernmental organizations, which can partially complement selected roles usually played by social security. These schemes include: microinsurance, mutual benefit organizations, self-help or community-based insurance schemes, and occupational pension schemes, which are insurance schemes operated by employers on behalf of their employees, by employees themselves or by both, and regulated by collective agreements at the national, sectoral or company levels.