EUROSTAT
Directorate F: Social statistics /
Doc. Eurostat/F/12/DSS/01/3.6 EN
Item 3.6
ESSPROS
meeting of the european directors of social statistics
luxembourg, 21 March 2012
BECH building
The European System of integrated Social PROtection Statistics (ESSPROS)
The European System of integrated Social PROtection Statistics (ESSPROS) is an instrument of statistical observation which enables international comparison ofthe administrative national data on social protection in the EU Member States.
The conventional definition used for the scope of social protection definition is the following:
"Social Protection encompasses all interventions from public or private bodies intended to relieve households and individuals of the burden of a defined set of risks or needs, provided that there is neither a simultaneous reciprocal nor an individual arrangement involved. The list of risks or needs that may give rise to social protection is, by convention, as follows: Sickness/Health care, Disability, Old age, Survivors, Family/children, Unemployment, Housing and Social exclusion not elsewhere classified".
ESSPROS is meant as a common framework enabling a comprehensive and coherent description of social protection:
- covering social benefits to households and their financing;
- geared to international comparability;
- harmonising with other statistics, particularly the national accounts, in its main concepts.
The ESSPROS system
ESSPROS collects data from the 27 EU Member States, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland[1].
It is composed of a Core system (gross social protection expenditure and receipts by social protection scheme) and of modules: pension beneficiaries (number of persons benefiting from a pension scheme), the net benefits module (collection of information about taxation and social contribution affecting the gross benefits) and the classification of pension scheme project (project developed jointly with DG EMPL with the objective to construct, within the framework of ESSPROS, further indicators to be used to assess sustainability of expenditure on pensions).
Detailed definitions and classifications can be found in the ESSPROS Manual - The European System of integrated Social PROtection Statistics_edition 2011-, the reference document of the Commission Regulations.
The Core system includes:
- Quantitative data: annual data on Social protection receipts and expenditures by scheme/groups of schemes[2] and for the total of schemes; they provide a means of analysing and comparing social protection financial flows.
- Qualitative information: social protection systems differ a lot from country to country; therefore, each scheme for which data are collected as well as each detailed benefit are described in the metadata and the dissemination data base.
ESSPROS data for the period 1990-2005 have been made available on the basis of a gentlemen agreement. Starting from the collection 2008 (with reference to 2006 data), the Framework Regulation (EC) N° 458/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European system of integrated social protection statistics (ESSPROS), dated 25 April 2007, enters into force[3]. It laid down the deadline for the transmission of Core system data for year N (end of June of year N+2) as well as for their dissemination (Annex I, points 1.3 and 2.3): by 31 October of year N+2, the Commission will publish:
· Data on social protection receipts and expenditure at all schemes level for year N. Data in national currency must be provided by Member States for each year at the level of the elementary item; most detailed data must be provided scheme by scheme.
· Qualitative information at scheme level updated for year N. Member States must provide or update qualitative information on each scheme and on each detailed benefit.
Dissemination of core system data, as well as the other module's data in ESSPROS is done through the following means:
· Eurostat reference database (Eurobase): http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/statistics/search_database under the population and social conditions paragraph.
· Statistics in focus publications: Analytical documents on Social Protection expenditure and receipts (for example: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-SF-11-017/EN/KS-SF-11-017-EN.PDF)
· CIRCA web: with data and qualitative information publicly available http://circa.europa.eu/irc/dsis/esspros/info/data/esspros_public_data/publication/index.htm
· Statistics explained website: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Social_protection_statistics
· Dedicated section in Eurostat website: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/social_protection/introduction
· Participation in other Eurostat and international organizations' publications: Eurostat yearbook: Europe in figures, The social situation in the European Union (DG EMPL), Eurostat pocketbook: Living conditions in Europe, etc.
The modules can contain supplementary statistical information on particular aspects of social protection, like the pension beneficiaries module, or enlarge the scope of the ESSPROS Core System, like the net benefits module.
- Pension Beneficiaries (PB)
According to the EP and Council Regulation n. 458/2007 on ESSPROS (Annex II), pension beneficiaries are defined as recipients of one or more of the periodic cash benefits of a social protection scheme falling within the seven pension categories:
· disability pension;
· early retirement benefit due to reduced capacity to work;
· old-age pension;
· anticipated old-age pension;
· partial pension;
· survivors' pension;
· early retirement benefit due to labour market reasons.
For each year, Member States have to provide the number of pension beneficiaries at the 31st of December-expressed in units- by social protection scheme and for the total of schemes.
The total number of beneficiaries is defined as the number of persons receiving at least one pension (i.e. a person who receives more than one pension is counted only once). Double counting is, therefore, to be avoided. Calculating the number of beneficiaries entails gradual aggregation in shifting from a unit level (scheme) to an overall one (all schemes). Double counting is treated at all stages of this gradual process of aggregation.
The Framework Regulation (in its annex 2, point 3) sets the deadline for the Commission to disseminate the ESSPROS pension beneficiaries data for year N at ‘all schemes’ level at 31 October of the year N+2. The deadline for PB data transmission is end of May.
- Net social benefits module
The module on net Social Protection Benefits was introduced by Regulation No 458/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council. According to the Commission Regulations (EC) n. 263/2011 and 110/2011, Member States shall submit data relating to the ESSPROS module on net social protection benefits to the Commission (Eurostat) annually. The deadline for the transmission of data for the year N, together with any revision of previous years’ data, shall be 31 December of the year N + 2. The first reference year for which full data shall be collected on net social protection benefit shall be 2010.
Also the quality reports on the net social protection benefits module are annual. The report on year N shall be transmitted to the Eurostat by 31 January of year N + 3.
Currently, the implementation of the net approach is based on the so-called restricted approach. This means that the reduction in taxes granted for social protection reasons are not considered. In an enlarged approach, such benefits should also be considered.
- Classification of pensions schemes
The classification of pension scheme project (project developed jointly with DG EMPL) has the objective to construct, within the framework of ESSPROS, further indicators to be used to assess sustainability of expenditure on pensions.
Quality documentation
- Quality Reports (QR)
According to the Regulation (EC) N° 1322/2007, countries produce annually a quality report on the Core system for the year N (by the end of September of the year N+2) and a quality report on pension beneficiaries data for the year N (by the end of August of the year N+2). The aim of a quality report is to bring together the multiple components of the quality of statistical respecting the criteria commonly used in assessing the quality of statistics.
On this basis Eurostat will produce and disseminate a consolidated version of these reports by the end of December of year N+2. The Consolidated Quality Report summarises the practices used in compiling the ESSPROS Core System and Pension Beneficiaries data.
Projects
- Indicators on Pension Beneficiaries
Eurostat is engaged in the DG EMPL project to develop indicators based on pension beneficiaries of special interest for the Indicators sub-group (ISG) of the Social Protection Committee on the purpose of an extensive use of available raw data in order to extract useful information for main users, including policymakers. The Esspros team is regularly invited to attend ISG meetings in order to contribute with its methodological background and skills.
- Benefit recipiency project (DG EMPL & OECD).
DG EMPL has funded the OECD to run a pilot data collection of beneficiaries of other forms of social protection. Currently, OECD is using ESSPROS as main source for EU Member States and collecting available data for the rest of Member States. Eurostat is supporting this study and give some methodological advice. Once the study will be completed, Eurostat will analyse the outcome with a view to see if and under which conditions this type of work could enter in the regular production of ESSPROS, with an additional module.
Users' needs
ESSPROS statistics are used in the annual 'Joint Report on social inclusion and social protection'.
Four other annual/every two years reports include statistics using the ESSPROS data:
· "The social situation in the European Union" report, produced jointly by Eurostat and the Commission Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (DG EMPL);
· the statistical pocketbook "Living conditions in Europe";
· the Eurostat report "Measuring progress towards a more sustainable Europe";
· the Eurostat yearbook "Europe in figures".
ESSPROS data are also transmitted to the OECD and integrated into their Social Expenditure database (SOCX) used to provide an accounting system for social expenditure in the OECD member countries.
The International Labour Office (ILO),other than introducingESSPROS classification in its manual for "ILO Social Security Inquiry", classifies ESSPROS inthe list of "Indicators identified to monitor progress towards decent work".
The Nordic Social-Statistical Committee (NOSOSCO), set up to coordinate social statistics from the Nordic countries, has decided to adopt the specifications and definitions used in ESSPROS.
ESPAnet (Network for European Social Policy Analysis) members use ESSPROS data for their analysis of social policy in Europe.
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[1] Totals are calculated for EU-27, EU-25, EU-15, EA-16, EA-15, EA-13, EA-12 and The European Economic Area: EEA (except Liechtenstein). EUROSTAT is also assessing the Esspros implementation in accessing countries and possible candidates countries: Croatia, Turkey, FYROM, Republic of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro.
[2] Social protection scheme, the statistical unit in ESSPROS, is defined in the European Parliament and Council Regulation No 458/2007 as: "a distinct body of rules, supported by one or more institutional units, governing the provision of social protection benefits and their financing".
[3] Also the two implementing Commission Regulations apply: Regulation (EC) N° 1322/2007 of 12/11/2007on appropriate formats for transmission, results to be transmitted and criteria for measuring quality for the ESSPROS core system and the module on pension beneficiaries and Regulation (EC) N° 10/2008 of 08/01/2008 on definitions, detailed classifications and updating of the rules for dissemination for the ESSPROS core system and the module on pension beneficiaries.