Old-age and survivor benefits and services – intermediary reports

14 October 2021

Following its 2020-2023 work plan, the Technical Commission on Old-age, Invalidity and Survivors' Insurance is working on issues such as: the link between life expectancy and age of retirement, the consequences of migrations on social security pension schemes, the resilience of pensions services in a time of pandemics, and long-term care from the point of view of pension schemes.

Two intermediary reports were produced on these subjects and presented during the 15th ISSA Forum for Technical Commissions 2021:

How to design survivor benefits in the 21st Century?

By the German Federal Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund) and the Austrian Pensionsversicherungsanstalt.

The introduction of survivor benefits was supposed to improve the economic situation of widows at a time when the male-breadwinner model was predominant. However, society has changed and evolved to an emancipated society for women in many countries.

The overall objective of this international project is to define how these changes affect survivor benefit systems. A key goal is to evaluate whether current national systems still answer the needs of the covered population. For this purpose key indicators of the national design of survivor benefit schemes and of the socio-economic development were compared across more than 40 countries. In addition, an in-depth research was carried out in selected countries on labour market and income effects of current survivor benefit schemes. To assess the ongoing debate on reforming survivor benefits across the globe a questionnaire has been distributed to ISSA members. On this basis, recommendations and international good practices will be identified for ISSA members.

The consequences of virtualisation on digital-averse population: the case of elder people

By the French National Old-Age Insurance Fund (Caisse nationale d'assurance vieillesse - CNAV)

CNAV's Research Unit carried out a study on the difficulties sometimes experienced by users when accessing digital services. The methodological approach was to focus on elderly people, retired or on the verge of retirement, a significant proportion of whom feel unable to use the internet to carry out administrative procedures. The researchers conducted 70 interviews with three distinct populations: users of public services, institutional actors and social intermediaries. The study highlights the emergence of hitherto unseen needs for assistance and support for digital autonomy. The research provides a glimpse of a "grey zone" of users who are have difficulty with e-administration. This is all the more difficult to characterise and approach because they have never been in the grip of economic or social difficulties and are, as such, unaware of the existing available support systems.

Crossing all social categories and age groups, this population escapes the traditional detection circuits of social services. Prevention measures rarely reach them, either because they are able to get help from relatives or because they do not frequent the places where they could be helped. In this context, the study proposed solutions that could be helpful for ISSA members.

The final reports will be presented in the World Social Security Forum 2022, in Morocco.

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