social security - FOD Sociale Zekerheid

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IntroductionA. The importance of social securityThe basic concept underlying our social security system is solidarity. This solidarity operatesbetween:- the employed and the jobless;- the young and the old;- the healthy and the ill;- people with an income and people without;- families without children and those with children;- etc.This solidarity is guaranteed because:- working people have to pay social security contributions based on their salary;- the social security system is largely financed by the community, i.e. all the citizens as awhole;- the trade unions, the health insurance funds (or 'mutual insurance funds') and theemployers' organisations co-decide about various aspects of the system.Concretely, social security intervenes in three events:- in case of wage loss (unemployment, retirement, incapacity for work) you will obtain asubstitution income;- if you are to bear specific 'social charges', such as raising children or sickness costs, youwill receive a supplement to your income;- if, independent of your own will, you do not have a professional income, you will receiveassistance allowances.B. A little historyThe Belgian social security system was not built in one day. Rather, it is the result of severalevolutions that have occurred during the past 150 years. Some features of the various periods ofthe past are still present in the current system.The beginning of our social security system can best be set in the period of the first industrialrevolution and the rise of capitalism. Poverty, until that period usually solved within the familyor with charities, is finally considered a problem of society. That consciousness led to thecreation of so-called 'Civil Hospices' and of 'Offices of Benevolence', the predecessors of ourcurrent public centres for social aid (OCMW - CPAS). Secondly, the industrial revolution has givenrise to specific risks, as the workers were forced to work in the mills: sickness, incapacity for work,unemployment, etc. In order to insure themselves against these new risks, the workers createdtheir own 'Societies for Mutual Assistance'. These voluntary mutual insurance funds protectedthe affiliated workers against the new social risks. They procured, for instance, benefits in caseof unemployment or incapacity for work of the breadwinner or if he became too old to continueto work, etc. Under the influence of the emerging trade unions, these local Societies for MutualAssistance were transformed into health insurance funds (ziekenfonds - mutualité). Next to the6
initiatives of the workers themselves, several christian-inspired employers created family benefitfunds, providing indemnity for workers with children. These were private initiatives; there was noquestion of government contributions yet.Due to the huge crisis which led to the national strikes of 1886 it became clear that governmentintervention was absolutely necessary. From 1891 onwards, the government starts to subsidisethe 'mutualities'. This government intervention has had positive effects, both financially andstructurally. The various local 'mutualities' were grouped, bringing about a more efficientmanagement. Belgium saw the creation of the 'national unions' that we still know today. Still, theunions remained a form of voluntary insurance and the workers had no obligation to participate.The first compulsory insurance was only created in 1903: the insurance against accidents at work.Between the two World Wars, the whole of compulsory insurances has expanded strongly. Salariedpersons were compulsorily insured for old-age and survivor's pensions, occupational diseases,family benefits and paid leave (today known as annual vacation). Self-employed persons wereonly compulsorily insured for family benefits from 1937 onwards. The 'social risks' (sickness,invalidity and unemployment) remained within the subsidised private sphere of 'mutualities' andtrade unions. Another milestone between the World Wars was the first law ensuring a guaranteedincome for disabled persons.During World War Two, representatives of the workers' trade unions, the employers' organisationsand some high officials met to conclude a 'draft agreement for social solidarity'. In 1944, the threeparties involved signed the 'social pact'. The social pact had two major pillars: the social peacebetween trade unions and employers' organisations and the concept of solidarity (the socialinsurance was to improve the living conditions of the workers). In fact, the social pact was themere technical co-ordination of what had grown in an unstructured way before. Yet, the socialpact brought some important innovations:- all social insurances (including unemployment, sickness and invalidity insurance) weremade obligatory for all workers;- benefits went up;- the National Office for Social Security (RSZ - ONSS) was created as a central body tocollect the social contributions;- social security was controlled with equal representation, i.e. by both the workers andthe employers.The social pact contained no clauses about accidents at work and occupational diseases, for thesetwo risks were countered with private insurances, nor about the disability policy, which wasfinanced with tax money. Bear in mind that the social pact only applied to salaried persons andnot to self-employed persons.Already in 1937, there was an obligatory family benefit scheme for the self-employed. Otherinsurances, like those against old age and for medical care, became obligatory only much later.In 1956, the pension insurance became obligatory and eight years later, the self-employed, toowere obliged to insure themselves against the 'big risks' in medical care. Only in 1967, the 'socialscheme of the self-employed' was created, integrating all the existing systems. Since 1971, theself-employed are also insured for benefits in case of incapacity for work.During the period after World War Two, which was primarily characterised by economic expansion,the entire social security system grew enormously. On the one hand, social security was aimed7
Page 1: social securityEverything you have
Page 4 and 5: Table of contentsPreface 3Table of
Page 8 and 9: at new social categories (e.g.: the
Page 10 and 11: E. The Charter of the socially insu
Page 12 and 13: FinancingThe financing in the three
Page 14 and 15: B. Alternative financingBesides the
Page 16 and 17: Statistics and budgetsIn the course
Page 18 and 19: Budget of the National Institute fo
Page 20 and 21: C. Extension of the salaried person
Page 22 and 23: In the salaried persons' scheme, ev
Page 24 and 25: holidays and for children receiving
Page 26 and 27: 4) Social supplementsThose entitled
Page 28 and 29: If a person does not meet the condi
Page 30: Eligible workers (cf. above) who re
Page 33 and 34: D. Early retired and young people h
Page 35 and 36: B. Retirement pensionsTo obtain a r
Page 37 and 38: B.2. Career“Career years” are y
Page 39 and 40: C. Survivor's pensionsA survivor's
Page 41 and 42: Medical careWhat exactly is medical
Page 43 and 44: - Persons entitled to one of the be
Page 45 and 46: Beneficiaries in a situation of con
Page 47 and 48: Income categories (in €) (2010)Am
Page 49 and 50: For an unemployed person, the amoun
Page 51 and 52: C. Federal civil servantsThe sickne
Page 53 and 54: A.2. Self-employed womenSelf-employ
Page 55 and 56: B.2. Indemnity for loss of incomeNo
Page 57 and 58:
E. Civil servantsThe civil servant
Page 59 and 60:
There are a few small differences l
Page 61 and 62:
Workers in the private sector and a
Page 63 and 64:
The social insurance in case of ban
Page 65 and 66:
C. Serious illness of a child or pa
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B - 1 Multilateral agreementsMultil
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C - 2. Granting of the benefitsThes
Page 71 and 72:
For the elderly, there is also a th
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What is the right to social integra
Page 75 and 76:
The amount of the integration incom
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D. Guaranteed family benefitsGuaran
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B. Public social security instituti
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F.G.T.B.:Fédération Générale de
Page 84:
© 2011FPS Social SecurityAdministr
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