Glossary
Accrual basis
Transfers are recorded at the time of the events that create the related claims and liabilities, not at the time when the actual payment is made (see under cash basis). For example, if, for whatever reason, the old age pension for the month of December 2012 is paid only in January 2013, the year recorded on an accrual basis would be 2012 while the data recorded would be 2033 on a cash basis.
Active contributors
Insured individuals who have made at least one contribution or on whose behalf at least one contribution has been made during the reporting period.
Actual social insurance contribution (employer)
Cash payments by employers to social security schemes to secure entitlement to social benefits for employees, former employees and their dependents.
Administrative costs
Any management and administrative expenditure incurred by the scheme directly responsible for the provision of social protection benefits, such as salaries, or the costs of running an office.
Affiliated/registered persons
Persons who are insured with the scheme. This includes persons who are active contributors and persons who have not made any contributions or on whose behalf no contributions have been made during the reporting period but who are still protected by the scheme and would give rise to a benefit should a contingency arise.
Basic schemes
Social protection schemes that guarantee a basic level of protection. This term does not relate to the level of benefits. In particular, this should not to be understood as a minimum level of benefits.
Beneficiary
Individual or household receiving benefits at a specific point in time/during a period of time. In most cases, beneficiaries are individuals, yet in some cases, benefits are paid to households. See also under Case.
Benefit
Transfer (in cash or kind) provided to an individual or household on the basis of an entitlement or need.
Cash basis
Transfers are recorded at the time of the actual payment, not at the time of the events that create the related claims and liabilities (see under accrual basis). For example, if, for whatever reason, the old age pension for the month of December 2012 is paid only in January 2013, the year recorded on an accrual basis would be 2012 while the date would be recorded as 2013 on a cash basis.
Cash benefits
Benefits provided in cash such as income replacement and income support benefits, lump-sum payments from provident funds, allowances and other cash payments which are not reimbursements (i.e. which do not require beneficiaries to show evidence of expenditure).
Civil Servant
An employee of the civil service.
Compulsory social insurance
The scheme established by law and/or regulation or by agreement between employer and employees. These schemes are organized in such a way that a third party, usually an employer or the government, encourages or obliges individuals to participate in a scheme that provides benefits for a number of identified circumstances, including pensions in retirement. These schemes have much in common with direct insurance and may be run by insurance corporations. The payment of contributions (corresponding to premiums in the case of direct insurance) and benefits (corresponding to claims in the case of direct insurance) is recorded according to the nature of the scheme. Participation is usually linked to employment, and contributions are payable either by the participants, an employer, or both. In some cases, a scheme may be mixed, where some people are required to participate and others are allowed a choice.
Contributory benefit
Entitlement to a benefit is based on contributions from insured persons and/or their employer.
Contributory period
Number of months required to contribute or work to obtain social protection benefits.
Defined-benefit Scheme
Schemes in which the link between individual contributions and benefits is rather weak.
Defined-contribution Scheme
Schemes in which the benefit is directly linked to the contributions the beneficiary has made previously.
Dependants
Individuals whose relationship with a protected person gives them the right to acquire a social security benefit based on that protected person’s rights (e.g. survivors’ benefits for widow(er) and orphans).
Earmarked taxes
Levies and specially designated taxes raised to finance specific social security benefits.
Employee
An employee is an individual who provides service on a regular basis to a company or business for cash or in kind but not as a part of another business or as a consultant.
ESSPROS
European System of Integrated Social Protection Statistics, a methodological standard used by the European Union to analyse finances of the national social protection systems.
Function
Risk or contingency addressed by a social security benefit such as, for example, old age, unemployment or disability.
General government contribution
Contributions by the government in order to finance the cost of goods and services provided by the government to protected persons in the form of means-tested benefits, as well as payments to social security institutions to cover deficits and to support expenditure related to guaranteeing minimum benefit levels.
General revenues
Government Finance Statistics – statistical system developed by International Monetary Fund (IMF), providing data and indicators to analyse government finances.
Imputed social insurance contributions
Estimated employer contributions that reflect the value of benefits directly provided to the insured (e.g. in the case of an employer providing benefits directly).
Income tested benefits
Income-tested benefits are a special case of means-tested benefit (see under this term). The assessment of a claimant’s needs is based on income (as opposed to assets or other resources).
In-kind benefits
Goods and services provided directly to the recipients as well as in the form of cash reimbursements.
Institution (Social security institution)
A body administering one or more social security schemes; all “intervening” public and private bodies which provide benefits on a regular basis.
Insured person
Individuals protected in their own right who, when a contingency arises, acquire a right to a benefit in their own name or give rise to a benefit which will be acquired by a third person (i.e. dependent).
Long-term benefits
Types of benefit that are aimed at replacing earned income in the case of the more or less permanent loss of earnings resulting from old age, disability or the death of the breadwinner (survivor benefits). See also short-term benefits.
Lump sums
One-time capital payments to members of a scheme designed to provide only capital sums upon the retirement, invalidity or death of a protected person (i.e. provident funds).
Means-tested benefits
Benefits that are granted only upon proof of need. Different types of income or assets, such as capital, earnings, benefits and other payments may be taken into account in the aggregate for the purpose of determining whether the applicants are eligible for benefit at all and the amount of benefit which will be granted.
Medical care benefits
In-kind health benefits that may be provided under various schemes. They should be included under the sickness and health function and are to be excluded from all other functions except employment injury (when they are provided as a consequence of work-related injury/disease).
Newly-awarded benefits
Benefits that have been newly granted during the reporting year. Applied to long-term benefits, the term distinguishes benefits newly awarded during the reporting period from those granted and ongoing prior to the start of the reporting year.
Non-contributory benefit
Entitlement to a benefit is not based on the previous payment of contributions but on other criteria. Non-contributory benefits are usually financed out of general taxation.
Non-contributory schemes
Schemes that normally require no direct contribution from beneficiaries or their employers as a condition of entitlement to receive relevant benefits (including non-means-tested and means-tested schemes). The term covers a broad range of schemes, including universal schemes for all residents (such as national health services), categorical schemes for certain road groups of the population (e.g. for children below a certain age or older persons above a certain age), and means-tested schemes (such as social assistance schemes). Non-contributory schemes are usually financed through taxes or other state revenues, or, in certain cases, through external grants and loans.
Non-means-tested benefits
Benefit that is granted on the basis of contributory periods or other rights, etc.; eligibility is not dependent on an assessment of the beneficiary’s means (i.e. income, capital earnings, etc.).
Parental leave
Leave granted to parents of young children for child care (usually several months or years).
Paternity leave
Leave granted to new fathers as an equivalent to maternity leave in order to allow the new father to spend time with his newborn baby after birth (usually several days or weeks).
Pension
A pension is a periodic benefit that replaces earned income. In many cases, this term is used to refer to long-term periodic benefits (see under long-term benefits).
Pensioner
Beneficiary of a pension (see pension).
Periodic cash benefits paid on a regular basis
Benefits that are provided during a given time period, recurring at regular intervals (generally on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis, e.g. old age pensions) and whose main “raison d’être” is to provide income replacement by restoring, up to a reasonable level, income which is lost by reason of inability to work. In contrast, other cash benefits are generally paid at irregular intervals or once for each occurrence (e.g. funeral grant), whose primary aim is that of providing cash assistance and not of providing income replacement.
Periodic family/dependant supplements
Supplements paid to beneficiaries of a social security scheme in order to cover the needs of their dependants (e.g. spouses, children). If possible, such supplements should be recorded as separate benefits under the main function family and children (i.e. family allowances paid to old-age pension beneficiaries).
Population group
Categories of persons delineated for the purposes of categorization in social protection programmes, e.g. elderly persons, salaried workers, children, etc.
Poverty line
(Income) threshold used to determine whether a household or individual is considered as poor or not.
Prescribed
Determined by or in virtue of national legislation.
Private Sector employee
Employees of businesses owned by private investors as opposed to governments. This includes informal sector employees.
Protected person
Persons who will be entitled to receive social security benefits once a risk/contingency or need materializes. Current beneficiaries are a subgroup of protected persons. See also affiliated/registered persons.
Provident fund
Regulated social security savings scheme that usually pays out a lump sum benefit rather than a periodic benefit.
Public sector employee
Employee in national government, local government, government-owned or controlled corporation or government monetary institution.
Public Works programme
A government programme offering employment opportunities to certain categories of persons who are unable to find other employment. These include employment guarantee schemes and “cash for work” and “food for work” programmes. These programmes provide a guaranteed 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).
Registered persons
See under affiliated/registered person.
Reimbursements
Benefit covering the actual cost of a good or service. Requires recipients to show evidence of expenditure (e.g. funeral costs, home care costs).
Reimbursement of expenditures
Always considered as in-kind benefit. Furthermore, any cash payment which is not made directly to the protected person or to a dependant of a protected person is considered as in-kind benefit (e.g. payment to health care providers).
Reporting period
A period of 12 months for which data are reported. This could either be a calendar year or, where this is not possible, another period such as a fiscal year.
Scheme (social security scheme)
A “distinct body of rules, supported by one or more institutional units (schemes are not themselves institutional units, as one institution may administer more than one scheme) governing the provision of social protection benefits and their financing”.
Self-employed person
Person who performs some work for profit or family gain (in cash or in kind) but is not in paid employment.
Short-term benefits
Types of benefit that are aimed at replacing earned income in case of a temporary loss of earnings resulting from sickness, maternity or unemployment. See also long-term benefits.
Social work services
Provision of social protection in the form of benefits in kind / services to persons who are socially excluded or at risk of social exclusion (such as persons who are destitute, low-income earners, immigrants, indigenous people, refugees, alcohol and substance abusers, victmis of criminal violence, etc.).
Statutory pensionable age
The age at which a person is expected to cease work and usually begins to receive old age government benefits, such as pensions.
Supplementary schemes
Social protection schemes that top up cash benefits granted by the basic scheme, or extend the coverage of the basic scheme, or replace the basic scheme where conditions for entitlement to the basic scheme are not fulfilled.
Transfers to/from other schemes
Transfers received from or given to other schemes; e.g. in order to cater for the acquired rights of protected persons who move from one scheme to another.
Voluntary social insurance
Schemes in which participation is at free will.