The last series of Flash Reports prepared by the European Social Policy Network (ESPN) is now available and provides information on recent social policy developments in Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Montenegro, the Netherlands and Slovakia.

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Reform of the statutory pension scheme in Belgium

The government has recently adopted new reform measures as a first step to ensure the adequacy and financial sustainability of the Belgian statutory pension scheme in the context of an ageing population.

From 2021 onwards, the pension of the self-employed is calculated in the same way as for employees, and the minimum old-age pension is being gradually increased for pensioners with an insurance record of at least 30 years (as from 2024, to qualify, future retirees aged 53 or younger at that time will need to have worked at least 20 years excluding assimilated periods).

In 2024, a pension bonus will be reintroduced to encourage longer working lives. Various pension policy analysts commented that these reforms are insufficient and that a more structural reform is needed.

Denmark: A minimum income benefit reform is underway, which includes an innovative child leisure allowance

In June 2022, the Danish Government (Social Democrats) together with the Green Left, the Red-Green Alliance, Next Denmark (Alternativet), and the Christian Democrats agreed to reform the Danish social assistance system. The reform will enter into force in January 2023.

An important element of it is that it will entitle children in households living on social assistance to receive their own allowance to pay for leisure activities.

Although the reform includes other welcome measures, it will not lead to the long-awaited simplification of the system, which will remain very complex and lacking in transparency for both social workers and benefit recipients.

Ireland is developing a national model of parenting support services

Ireland is set to develop a national model of parenting support services. Announced on 27 April 2022 and due to commence later this year, Supporting Parents sets out 23 actions to enable greater access, information and inclusion with regard to parenting support services.

Addressing services from pre-birth to adulthood, the new model foresees actions both to improve existing support and assign roles and responsibilities for planning and delivery. Instituting the national model is viewed as another critical element of Ireland’s family policy infrastructure which, over the last decade, has seen the establishment of policy programmes for specific groups of children and their families.

Montenegro: lifetime benefit reintroduced for mothers with three or more children subject to certain conditions

In 2015, Montenegro introduced a monthly lifetime allowance for mothers of three or more children. Two years later, the Constitutional Court declared this benefit unconstitutional and the Parliament invalidated it except (for a limited period) for beneficiaries who had left their job to receive it.

In December 2021, as a result of actions by mothers who used to receive the benefits and some political parties, the Parliament adopted a law to compensate mothers who were initially entitled to it.

Netherlands: Macroeconomic challenges to occupational pension reform

For more than ten years, occupational pension schemes have been the target of reforms in the Netherlands.

The government and social partners agreed a new system in June 2019, and legislative passage is scheduled for late 2022.

The current system is based on capital-funded, defined benefit pension contracts linked to employment. The proposed reform will introduce defined contribution pension contracts where individuals bear more risks.

Rapidly changing macroeconomic conditions, mainly higher interest rates, are likely to complicate the final stages of the reform process.

Slovakia: A proposal to improve support for families affected by controversies and political turmoil

In May 2022, the Slovak Parliament approved a package aimed at helping households with children cope with the rising cost of living, as well as improving their socio-economic situation.

The so-called package for families includes a significant increase in the tax bonus for children and the child allowance, and introduces a new measure to cover the cost of leisure for young children.

It faced strong criticism, and part of the package was vetoed by the President of the Slovak Republic and referred to the Constitutional Court. Partly due to recent policy developments, resulting from a governmental crisis, the future prospects of the package remain unclear.