 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(December 2023) |
| This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(June 2023) |
Social welfare has long been an important part of Sri Lankan society and a significant political issue. It is concerned with the provision by the state of benefits and services. Social welfare is mostly funded through general taxation.
Sri Lanka has a universal health care system that is free for any one using it, including both citizens and non-citizens. It is publicly funded and run by Ministry of Health. This includes both dental care and community medicine.
Social security benefits are administered by the Department of Social Services. As of 2022, they include: [1]
The government provides State housing and land to those in need.
Primary and secondary education is free in Sri Lanka and is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and the Provincial Governments. Undergraduate education in state universities are free, but limited to less than 10% of the student population.
State sector, some state owned and private sector organizations provides pensions for employees who retire at that ages between 55 and 62 years, having complete a number of years of service (e.g. 30 years). Pensions are granted after lesser terms of service for certain groups such as member of parliaments (5 years) and military personnel (10 years).
Private provident funds existed in the private sector, with some companies contributing on a voluntary basis until 1958, when the Employees' Provident Fund was established by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike following the enactment of the Employees' Provident Fund Act No 15 of 1958 which established the Employees' Provident Fund which made it compulsory for all employers and employees to contribute if not employed in a pensionable role. This was further supplemented by the Employees' Trust Fund in 1981.
Females are entitled for paid maternity leave in both the state and private sector with the employer responsible for payment of their wages during the period of leave. In addition, mothers are allowed a daily time allowance to feed babies until they reach one year of age.
A pension is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during the individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be:
A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any program, fund, or scheme which provides retirement income.
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, 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.
National Insurance (NI) is a fundamental component of the welfare state in the United Kingdom. It acts as a form of social security, since payment of NI contributions establishes entitlement to certain state benefits for workers and their families.
Social welfare, assistance for the ill or otherwise disabled and the old, has long been provided in Japan by both the government and private companies. Beginning in the 1920s, the Japanese government enacted a series of welfare programs, based mainly on European models, to provide medical care and financial support. During the post-war period, a comprehensive system of social security was gradually established.
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is one of the two main social security organization under the Government of India's Ministry of Labour and Employment and is responsible for regulation and management of provident funds in India, the other being Employees' State Insurance. The EPFO administers the mandatory provident fund, a basic pension scheme and a disability/death insurance scheme. It also manages social security agreements with other countries. International workers are covered under EPFO plans in countries where bilateral agreements have been signed. As of May 2021, 19 such agreements are in place. The EPFO's top decision-making body is the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), a statutory body established by the Employees' Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions (EPF&MP) Act, 1952. As of 2018, more than ₹11 lakh crore are under EPFO management.
The Mandatory Provident Fund, often abbreviated as MPF (強積金), is a compulsory saving scheme for the retirement of residents in Hong Kong. Most employees and their employers are required to contribute monthly to mandatory provident fund schemes provided by approved private organisations, according to their salaries and the period of employment.
The Italian welfare state is based partly upon the corporatist-conservative model and partly upon the universal welfare model.
Social security in India includes a variety of statutory insurances and social grant schemes bundled into a formerly complex and fragmented system run by the Indian government at the federal and the state level. The Directive Principles of State Policy, enshrined in Part IV of the Indian Constitution reflects that India is a welfare state. Food security to all Indians are guaranteed under the National Food Security Act, 2013 where the government provides highly subsidised food grains or a food security allowance to economically vulnerable people. The system has since been universalised with the passing of The Code on Social Security, 2020. These cover most of the Indian population with social protection in various situations in their lives.
In France employees of some government-owned corporations enjoy a special retirement plan, collectively known as régimes spéciaux de retraite. These professions include employees of the SNCF, the RATP, the electrical and gas companies which used to be government-owned; as well as some employees whose functions are directly related to the State such as the military, French National Police, sailors, Civil law notaries' assistants, employees of the Opéra de Paris, etc. The main differences between the special retirement plan and the usual private sector retirement plans are the retirement age and the number of years a worker must contribute to the fund before being allowed a full pension. In the private sector the minimum retirement age is 62 and the minimum number of quarters of contribution to the retirement fund in order to receive a full pension is between 166 and 172 quarters depending on date of birth. Employees who are enrolled in the special retirement plan can retire earlier.
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.
Social security or welfare in Finland is very comprehensive compared to what almost all other countries provide. In the late 1980s, Finland had one of the world's most advanced welfare systems, which guaranteed decent living conditions to all Finns. Created almost entirely during the first three decades after World War II, the social security system was an outgrowth of the traditional Nordic belief that the state is not inherently hostile to the well-being of its citizens and can intervene benevolently on their behalf. According to some social historians, the basis of this belief was a relatively benign history that had allowed the gradual emergence of a free and independent peasantry in the Nordic countries and had curtailed the dominance of the nobility and the subsequent formation of a powerful right wing. Finland's history was harsher than the histories of the other Nordic countries but didn't prevent the country from following their path of social development.
Employees' State Insurance Corporation is one of the two main statutory social security bodies under the ownership of Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, the other being the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation. The fund is managed by the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) according to rules and regulations stipulated in the ESI Act 1948.
Social security in Germany is codified on the Sozialgesetzbuch (SGB), or the "Social Code", contains 12 main parts, including the following,
India operates a complex pension system. There are however three major pillars to the Indian pension system: the solidarity social assistance called the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) for the elderly poor, the civil servants pension and the mandatory defined contribution pension programs run by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation of India for private sector employees and employees of state owned companies, and several voluntary plans.
The Employees' Provident Fund, abbreviated to EPF, is a social security scheme of employees in Sri Lanka under the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. It was established under Act No. 15 of 1958 by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, and as of December 2010, it had Rs 899.6 billion, which is equivalent to 16% of the GDP. The EPF offers a joint action plan by the employer and the employee to save money by targeting retirement and future to the government as well as the private sector. EPF invests in most Sri Lankan private companies such as Vallible One and Commercial Bank of Ceylon.
The Employees' Trust Fund (ETF), a social security programme, was established on 1 March 1981 under the Act No.46 of 1980 by the Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to promote (i).employee ownership, employee welfare and economic democracy through participation in financing and investment (ii).employee participation in management through the acquisition of equity interest in enterprises and to provide for non-contributory benefits to employees upon retirement. All workers i.e. Permanent, Temporary, Casual, Contract, Piece-rate wages, Learners and apprentices who are employed in private and public sector are eligible to be benefited by it.
South Korea's pension scheme was introduced relatively recently, compared to other democratic nations. Half of the country's population aged 65 and over lives in relative poverty, or nearly four times the 13% average for member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This makes old age poverty an urgent social problem. Public social spending by general government is half the OECD average, and is the lowest as a percentage of GDP among OECD member countries.
Cyprus is a high income country with a well established and extensive welfare system. The Social Insurance Scheme ensures access to healthcare, income support, and pensions, with mandatory contributions for all employees and employers. Income support is means tested on the basis of total family income and assets, which often places the burden of care on the family unit before the state provides assistance. There is also an obligation to seek work. The pension system is fairly comprehensive, yet may still leave some in the private sector unsupported.
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