The Toledo Pact (Spanish : Pacto de Toledo) was an ambitious reform of the Spanish social security system approved by the Spanish parliament on 6 April 1995, aimed at streamlining and guaranteeing the future of the Spanish social security system. The background to the reform was a series of recommendations by the World Bank in 1987 and the Delors White Paper in 1993. [1]
In June 1993, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) had lost seats to the conservative Partido Popular in the general election, leaving it without an overall majority. The PSOE depended on the support of the Catalan party Convergencia i Unio, who proposed a debate about the sustainability of the social security system. In the midst of a recession, the social security system was under pressure from a widespread use of early retirement, used by companies to lay off workers. The unexpected rise in retirees risked plunging the system into systemic deficit.
The package of measures involved both structural and management changes, including separation of contributary and non-contributary benefits, leaving the social security funding only contributory benefits while non-contributory benefits were to be financed from general taxation.
A significant reform was the creation of a reserve fund, to be financed by surpluses of contributions over costs during periods of strong economic growth and to be used during periods of recession.
The reform also involved a simplification of the numerous special conditions for different categories of workers and unified the contribution levels and ceilings.
Changes were made to improve efficiency and fraud prevention, and an effort was made to encourage employment in labour-intensive industries as well as those requiring highly qualified employees, by reducing contributions. In addition, while maintaining the retirement age at 65 years, those wishing to carry on working beyond 65 would be encouraged by the social security system.
Finally, a permanent parliamentary commission was created in order to monitor and modernise the pact and the system.
A pension is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be:
In the United States, Social Security is the commonly used term for the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program and is administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA). The Social Security Act was passed in 1935, and the existing version of the Act, as amended, encompasses several social welfare and social insurance programs.
Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance programs which provide support only to those who have previously contributed, as opposed to social assistance programs which provide support on the basis of need alone. The International Labour Organization defines social security as covering support for those in old age, support for the maintenance of children, medical treatment, parental and sick leave, unemployment and disability benefits, and support for sufferers of occupational injury.
The Canada Pension Plan is a contributory, earnings-related social insurance program. It is one of the two major components of Canada's public retirement income system, the other being Old Age Security (OAS). Other parts of Canada's retirement system are private pensions, either employer-sponsored or from tax-deferred individual savings. As of June 30, 2024, CPP Investments (CPPI) manages over C$646 billion in investment assets for the Canada Pension Plan on behalf of 22 million Canadians. CPPI is one of the world's biggest pension funds.
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The Social Security debate in the United States encompasses benefits, funding, and other issues. Social Security is a social insurance program officially called "Old-age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance" (OASDI), in reference to its three components. It is primarily funded through a dedicated payroll tax. During 2015, total benefits of $897 billion were paid out versus $920 billion in income, a $23 billion annual surplus. Excluding interest of $93 billion, the program had a cash deficit of $70 billion. Social Security represents approximately 40% of the income of the elderly, with 53% of married couples and 74% of unmarried persons receiving 50% or more of their income from the program. An estimated 169 million people paid into the program and 60 million received benefits in 2015, roughly 2.82 workers per beneficiary. Reform proposals continue to circulate with some urgency, due to a long-term funding challenge faced by the program as the ratio of workers to beneficiaries falls, driven by the aging of the baby-boom generation, expected continuing low birth rate, and increasing life expectancy. Program payouts began exceeding cash program revenues in 2011; this shortfall is expected to continue indefinitely under current law.
The Chile pension system refers to old-age, disability and survivor pensions for workers in Chile. The pension system was changed by José Piñera, during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship, on November 4, 1980 from a PAYGO-system to a fully funded capitalization system run by private sector pension funds. Many critics and supporters see the reform as an important experiment under real conditions, that may give conclusions about the impact of the full conversion of a PAYGO-system to a capital funded system. The development was therefore internationally observed with great interest. Under Michelle Bachelet's government the Chile Pension system was reformed again.
Social security is divided by the French government into five branches: illness; old age/retirement; family; work accident; and occupational disease. From an institutional point of view, French social security is made up of diverse organismes. The system is divided into three main Regimes: the General Regime, the Farm Regime, and the Self-employed Regime. In addition there are numerous special regimes dating from prior to the creation of the state system in the mid-to-late 1940s.
Welfare in France includes all systems whose purpose is to protect people against the financial consequences of social risks.
Defined benefit (DB) pension plan is a type of pension plan in which an employer/sponsor promises a specified pension payment, lump-sum, or combination thereof on retirement that depends on an employee's earnings history, tenure of service and age, rather than depending directly on individual investment returns. Traditionally, many governmental and public entities, as well as a large number of corporations, provide defined benefit plans, sometimes as a means of compensating workers in lieu of increased pay.
The social security system in Spain is its principal system of social protection. The concept of social security first appeared in Spain in 1883 under the Committee for Social Reform, it was expanded several times during the twentieth century and finally the right to social security was enshrined in the Spanish Constitution of 1978 under Article 41 which states "that the public authorities shall maintain a public social security system for all citizens, guaranteeing sufficient support and social benefits in situations of need, especially in the event of unemployment, and that the support and additional benefits shall be free".
According to the International Labour Organization, social security is a human right that aims at reducing and preventing poverty and vulnerability throughout the life cycle of individuals. Social security includes different kinds of benefits A social pension is a stream of payments from the state to an individual that starts when someone retires and continues to be paid until death. This type of pension represents the non-contributory part of the pension system, the other being the contributory pension, as per the most common form of composition of these systems in most developed countries.
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Unemployment benefits in Spain are contributory and non-contributory. They are part of social security system in Spain and are managed by the State Public Employment Service (SEPE). Employers and employees contribute to the unemployment contingency fund and if an unemployed person fulfills certain criteria they can claim an allowance which is based on the time they have contributed and their average wage. A non-contributory benefit is also available to those who no longer receive a contributory benefit dependent on a maximum level of income.
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The National Institute for Social Security is the main public entity and authority of the Italian public retirement system. All waged labourers and most of self-employed, without a proper autonomous social security fund, must be subscribed to INPS. The entity is under the supervision of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies.
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