On 17 October 2022, the Council of the EU endorsed the key conclusions of the first joint report of the Social Protection Committee (SPC) and the European Commission on minimum income.

This report provides an overview of the current state of play as regards minimum income in the EU Member States, reflecting the three policy strands of active inclusion:

• adequate income support
• inclusive labour markets
• access to quality services

It reviews levels and trends in outcomes and performances of national systems, based on the selected indicators of the agreed benchmarking framework on minimum income. Volume 2 of the report contains detailed country fiches for each of the 27 EU Member States.

Key highlights

The analysis in the report highlights a number of important challenges:

• On average in the EU, adequacy of minimum income benefits has remained almost unchanged in the last decade in spite of some convergence due to new schemes having been introduced in some Member States and reforms in others.
• While the coverage of income support moderately increased, there are still existing challenges in access to benefits and estimates available in some Member States show that non-take up of minimum income can be high.
• In terms of facilitating labour market participation, the participation of minimum income beneficiaries in active labour market policy measures often appears to be low and limited.
• Coordination with bodies offering other complementary benefits and access to enabling services also seems to be a challenge in many instances.

In light of these findings, the Social Protection Committee considers that further efforts will be needed to implement principle 14 of the European Pillar of Social Rights in coordination with other relevant principles.