Why the social protection network is ineffective in Ukraine and requires changes: Presentation of public audit results of system of benefits, social payments and services

September 2, at UNIAN, there were presented results of research of social protection network and social security system, currently effective in Ukraine. The research was carried out by the Center for Public Expert Opinion, within the scope of the project “Human Rights”, under the support of the Rule of Law Program of the International Renaissance Foundation.

At the press conference, which took place within the scope of the project “UNIAN-Human Rights”, there were presented results of audit of the effective system of benefits, social payments and social services that are financed at the expense of the state budget and extra-budgetary social security funds. The audit was conducted within the scope of fulfillment of the project “New View on the System of Social Rights and Social Guarantees of the Citizens of Ukraine”.

The goal of the project is the following: by conducting complex research of legislative and financial prerequisites and limitations that concern functioning of social protection network and social security system, effective in Ukraine, to initiate public discussion regarding reforming of Ukraine’s effective system of social guarantees, benefits, social payments and social services, as well as to prepare corresponding proposals and recommendations.

The research covered more than 60 current Laws of Ukraine, as well as more than 120 regulatory normative-legal acts. At the same time, there was done a screening of Ukraine’s international obligations in the area of implementation of social and economic human rights, as well as regarding modernization of the national social safety net and social security system.

As noted Lyubomyr Chorniy, Head of the Board of the Center for Public Expert Opinion, one of the project’s experts, “Ukraine’s effective social protection network and social security system are of little effect, in general, and do not respond to contemporary challenges. Social guarantees, stipulated by the current legislation, do not perform functions of social protection of the most vulnerable layers of population, which is a top-priority task for Ukraine that is in the state of economic and social transformation, and they are often provided on the basis of one’s belonging to a certain professional category or one’s occupation. At the same time, the state policy in this area remains to be unshaped and the legislation is inconsistent and incomplete.”

Within the scope of the research, there was also calculated a real volume of expenses for the area of social protection network and social security, which are carried out in Ukraine not only under the expense item “Social Protection and Social Security” of the state and local budgets, but are also included in many other expense budgetary items (for example, expenses for housing and communal services sector; health care; defense; public order, security and judicial power etc.) and are carried out at the expense of state extra-budgetary funds of general mandatory social security. On this basis, Ukraine’s social expenses were compared with same indices in some other countries.

Olha Romanyuk, Director of Economic Projects of the Center for Public Expert Opinion,  emphasized: “In Ukraine, along with the effective instruments for provision of social services and special purpose financial assistance, there remains an awkward system of benefits. Reforming of this system has been neglected for a long time. However, under Ukraine’s current economic situation one can not delay with this issue any longer. Conducting of the reform will provide an opportunity to rationally use limited budget resources and direct measures of social protection on the most vulnerable layers of population that especially severely feel the consequences of the economic crisis.”

Experts of the Center for Public Expert Opinion note a high level of declarations and a significant influence of politics on the social block of the current legislation. Thus, implementation of new benefits and social payments often takes place solely due to political motivations (as a ‘promise’ to a certain group of the electorate before elections), with the application of approaches, which were traditional for the Soviet times, and without proper financial provision.

As noted Roman Romanov, Director of the Rule of Law Program of the International Renaissance Foundation, “Under the conditions of the economic crisis, Ukraine cannot afford to have an ineffective system of social assistance. Election campaigns make politicians vulnerable to social issues; today, however, a significant volume of financial resources is directed on support of those, who do not require assistance. At the same time, very many people in Ukraine do not get that support and assistance, which they really need. The research makes it possible to see objectively, what the effective system of social assistance is and what changes it has to undergo. Refusal from the Soviet system of collective benefits and a transition of European standards for protection of social and economic rights have to become the main vector of development.”

More details here.

			Mariana Mazur, Rule of Law Program Assistant tel: +380 (44) 482 03 63  email: mazur@irf.kiev.ua office: Kyiv, Artema Street, 44, room 1