The compulsory social insurance system has for 18 years now enabled working citizens to receive additional social support from the State Social Insurance Fund. In a conversation with a correspondent of IA El.kz, General Director of the Fund Kemel Nursulu Myrzageldikyzy told about the main advantages of this system.

- What stages of development of social protection in Kazakhstan will you highlight especially?

Over the years of independence our country has developed a multi-tiered model of the social security system, in line with the principles of a market economy, which provides for the distribution of responsibility for social security between the State, the employer and the employee.

Since 2005, an important step in the development of social protection has been the introduction of compulsory social insurance. As a result of its implementation, employees for whom employers pay social contributions to the State Social Insurance Fund (Fund) are protected by the system when social risks occur

In the first phase, payments from the Fund were made for three social risks: incapacity for work, loss of breadwinner and loss of employment. From 2008, two more social benefits for maternity and childhood were introduced.

Over the 18 years of the Fund's existence, there has been an increase in the number of recipients and amounts of social benefits. Thus, in comparison with 2008, the number of recipients of social benefits for all social risks increased by 3.6 times and exceeded 1 million persons (322,000 persons in 2008, 1,163,000 in 2022). The amount of payments during the same period rose by a factor of almost 15 (2008: 30 billion tenge, 2022: 441 billion tenge). As the system matures, this indicator will continue to grow.

- How significant is the advantage of the working population covered by compulsory social insurance compared to those who do not work or work informally?

Today in Kazakhstan, the system of social protection for persons with disabilities is represented by six types of benefits from the budget and social payment from the Fund, provision of technical means of rehabilitation, medical insurance at the expense of the state, social rehabilitation, etc. By the end of 2022, more than 97,000 persons had received social benefits from the Fund, totalling 31 billion tenge, in addition to budget benefits. At the same time, they are permitted by law to work as far as possible during the period in which they receive the benefit. Today about 65 per cent of the receivers continue to work.

Similar support from two levels is provided to families who have lost their breadwinner, provided that he or she has worked in the last 2 years. By the end of 2022, more than 61,000 families received social payments from the Fund totalling 21 billion tenge.

I would especially like to emphasise that these benefits are long-term and have been increased every year to ensure purchasing power. In addition, since 1 January 2020, in order to increase the attractiveness of participation in the insurance system, the parameters of long-term benefits have been revised according to the principle "the longer the period of participation in the system, the higher the amount of the benefit". This has resulted in an average increase in social benefits of more than 50%.

Our country also pays special attention to social support for families with children, which includes 8 types of state benefits and social payments for maternity and childhood from the Fund, as well as various benefits for mothers with many children and low-income families.

When a child is born, one of the parents, irrespective of employment, receives a state birth grant from the budget, which amounts to 38 MCI for the first, second and third child and 63 MCI for the fourth child or more.

However, non-working mothers receive a monthly state childcare allowance up to the age of one and a half years from the budget, the amount of which depends on the order in which the child is born.

With regard to working women, social insurance for maternity and childhood has been introduced in Kazakhstan since 2008 to protect their interests.

After taking leave, the mother-to-be applies for a social benefit for loss of income due to pregnancy and childbirth. In 2022, more than 251,000 women received this benefit, amounting to 198 billion tenge.
After the birth of a child, one of the parents caring for the child can apply for social payment in case of loss of income due to care for the child up to the age of one and a half years.

As part of the implementation of the Address by the Head of State, the duration of the social payment for child care has been increased from 1 year to 1.5 years. Last year 323 thousand people received such a payment from the Fund. A total of 172 billion tenge was allocated from the Fund for this payment.

Thus, thanks to participation in the compulsory social insurance system, the benefits for employed people are higher than those for non-employed people.

- In these times of digitalisation, no one wants to waste time queuing and collecting documents. Has this issue been resolved for recipients of social benefits?

The development of digitalisation of the social sphere is an important and promising direction.

At present, there has been a tremendous advancement in the business processes of providing social support. While previously a person had to collect at least 7-8 documents, copy them, stand in queues, today it is all automated and optimised as much as possible. Virtually all necessary information is requested from information systems.

For convenience, you can apply for social benefits from the Fund both traditionally via the Public Service Centres and electronically from home.

The composite and proactive formats have become current trends in the development of e-services. In our activities we have already introduced a composite format for the provision of social benefits for incapacity for work and unemployment. This format means that a citizen does not need to apply separately for benefits once he or she has been assessed as disabled or registered as unemployed. Everything is processed immediately either at the Medical and Social Expert Assessment Unit or at the Employment Centre.

The proactive service delivery format provides for the provision of the service, without the applicant having to ask for it. In this case, the state meets the individual's needs by requesting an SMS confirmation of consent to receive the social benefit when social risk occurs. The very process of existence of the right to payment and formation of confirming information is achieved through data exchange between information systems. For example, immediately after the birth of a child, a woman receives an sms message that enables her to automatically receive the corresponding payments if she receives a positive answer.

This service is also available through the e-government portal and mobile apps of some second-tier banks.

All these measures have made it possible to increase the share of e-services to 49% of the total. In the long term, we aim to maximise this figure.

- What new things can you expect from the insurance system in the near future and what goals and plans do you have for the future?

On the instructions of the Head of State, the introduction of the Digital Family Map (DFM) has been launched as a pilot project as of 1 September 2022.

The DFM is essentially:

- a daily "electronic notifier" of citizens' rights to some kind of guaranteed state support, depending on their social status;

- another new tool in the proactive format of state service provision. In other words, the state offers a citizen, through an information system, to receive some type of state support without having to go to the relevant authorities.

Once consent has been granted, social benefits, payments or other types of state support are made and then credited to the beneficiary's bank account.

When eligibility for state support measures is established, an SMS notification is sent to the potential recipient for consent to the provision of a public service.

At present, the most popular service provided by the DFM is the unemployment benefit from the Fund. As of 1 March this year, about 15,000 people had received the benefit under the DFM since last September.

Thus, for the convenience of citizens, we aim to develop the provision of services in a proactive format.

- Thank you for the interview and we wish you continued success in your work!