I. Social Security Regulations
Social security laws and regulations refer to the legal system of regulating various social relations between the state, the collective (employing units) and individuals in social security activities. The specific forms of social security laws and regulations are diverse, which can be constitutional provisions or special laws and administrative regulations.
Social security laws and regulations can be divided into three categories in terms of content:
The first category is the comprehensive basic law on social security system formulated by the state, which mainly stipulates the basic principles, content items, basic rights and obligations of the state, enterprises and individuals in social security activities. For example, American social security law and French social insurance law all belong to this category.
The second category is specific laws and regulations formulated according to different aspects and projects of social security, which are special laws that stipulate the nature, tasks, projects and implementation methods of various specific parts of social security, namely social insurance, social relief, social welfare, special care and resettlement. As a symbol of the birth of modern social security system, Germany promulgated three social insurance legislations in 1980s. 195 1 promulgated the "People's Republic of China (PRC) labor insurance regulations" is such a law.
The third category is the specific implementation rules and supplementary provisions formulated by the relevant administrative departments and local governments in accordance with the statutory authority and procedures. For example, 1994, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs formulated the Measures for the Calculation and Payment of Rural Social Endowment Insurance Pensions (Trial), and in the same year, Shandong Province formulated the Interim Measures for the Management of Social Insurance Funds in Shandong Province.
The basic law of social security, separate regulations, implementation rules and supplementary provisions constitute a complete system of social security laws and regulations. These laws and regulations not only contain the normative system of social security system, but also embody the basic concept and guiding ideology of establishing social security system, which is the first element of modern social security and the cornerstone of institutionalization. The perfection of social security laws and regulations is the symbol of the maturity of modern social security system, which was born in the form of legislation. It can be said that without social security legislation, there is no truly mature social security system.
Why does the social security system use the law, the most mandatory norm, to adjust its various relationships? This is determined by the nature of social security itself.
Social security is a social security system established by state organizations. In order to make this system truly established and play an effective role, it is necessary to bring the security resources of the whole society into this security system, and the state, as the center of society, will provide these resources to the members of society facing the risk of survival. The essence of this is the distribution and redistribution of national income, which involves the interests of all sectors of society. Not all members of society will voluntarily join this social security system. Therefore, in order to truly establish a social security system, the objective requirements of establishing a social security system must be concentrated on the will of the state, which is the will of the state. As Lenin said: "If the will belongs to the state, it should be expressed as a law formulated by a political organ, otherwise the word' will' is just a meaningless air strike. [1] In order to ensure that the country's will to establish a social security system can be realized, it is undoubtedly necessary to use the most compulsory legal means.
On the other hand, as the main body of the social security system, social security parties include not only individuals, enterprises and collectives, but also special subject countries. In the social security system, various complex rights and obligations will occur between different subjects, and the interests of the state, enterprises and individuals are all involved. These relationships include:
1. Responsibility relationship of social security management, that is, the relationship between social security functional institutions and their internal responsibilities, financial management, fund allocation, etc.
2. The relationship between social security fund raising, that is, the relationship between social security functional institutions and the state, collectives (communities and units) and individuals in the process of raising social security funds.
3. Establish social security projects and standards.
4. The relationship between payment, management and operation of social security funds.
5. The relationship between the parties involved in disputes arising from the implementation of social security policies.
6. Supervise the implementation of social security relations, etc.
If there is no mandatory, clear and public legal norm to adjust these relations, so that the government, the collective and the individual can act according to law, it will inevitably lead to randomness and blindness, and even lead to disorder and disintegration of the social security system.
Therefore, for more than 100 years, from the birth of the modern social security system in Germany to the present, there is no country and region in the world that has not established a social security system without laws and regulations. Social security laws and regulations, as the carrier of modern social security system ideas and norms, are the cornerstone of modern social security.
Chapter 1, Section 2, Elements of Modern Social Security System
Second, social security projects.
Social security engineering refers to the social security measures and methods set by pointing to the specific security needs of a certain security object. It is the basic unit of the social security system. Such as social endowment insurance, natural disaster relief, welfare protection for orphans and disabled children, and resettlement of retired soldiers. Social security projects of the same nature constitute a subsystem of social security, and then the whole social security system is composed of interrelated and different subsystems. The social security system in many countries is gradually developed and improved from the setting of individual social security projects. In different countries and periods, the setting of social security projects is different, and it changes because of the change of the security demand of the security object. The specific projects of social security systems in different countries in the world can be said to be very different. However, due to the regularity of the objective demand of social security, its basic contents are similar, such as endowment insurance, medical insurance, industrial injury insurance and poverty relief.
At present, China's social security projects and various security subsystems are as follows:
1. A social insurance system consisting of social pension, medical care, maternity, work injury, unemployment and survivors' insurance. This is the basic life that the state guarantees workers when they lose their ability to work or their opportunities to work. A social security system that provides material assistance to laborers and their families according to the corresponding obligations performed by laborers and legal objects.
2. A social assistance system consisting of natural disaster relief, urban poverty relief, rural five-guarantee relief and other projects. This is a social security system that the state and society provide material help to meet the minimum living needs when members of society cannot maintain the minimum living standard or fall into a crisis of survival.
3. A social welfare system consisting of social citizen welfare, employee welfare and community service. This is a welfare income guarantee and service guarantee system provided or organized by the state, enterprises, institutions and community organizations to meet the basic material and cultural needs of various social vulnerable groups or to improve the quality of life of employees and community residents in their own units. The social welfare system in China is different from the generalized universal social welfare in some industrialized countries, and it is an integral part of the social security system.
4. The preferential treatment and resettlement system consists of resettlement for demobilized soldiers, preferential treatment and pensions for soldiers and their families. This is a special social security system that the state and society give preferential treatment, pension, resettlement and other material care and spiritual encouragement to the entitled groups (including active servicemen, disabled revolutionary servicemen, demobilized veterans, families of revolutionary martyrs, families of soldiers who died in the line of duty, families of deceased soldiers).
The above four aspects of social security are the main institutional framework of China's social security project at present. In addition, there are ways to realize social mutual assistance and personal savings accumulation guarantee and supplementary mechanisms.
Social mutual assistance is an internal mechanism and realization of social security. Without social mutual assistance, the overall social security resources cannot be formed, and there is no social security. Within the scope of social security, social mutual assistance, in a broad sense, refers to the rights and obligations of social members determined according to social security laws and regulations, or the ways and behaviors of voluntary mutual assistance beyond legal obligations. Legal social mutual assistance is institutionalized, while voluntary social mutual assistance is non-institutionalized. Among the social insurance, social assistance, social welfare and social preferential treatment systems, the former fulfills the legal obligation of social mutual assistance, while social charitable donations, charitable performances, fairs and competitions held to ensure donations, mutual assistance services and social charitable assistance services carried out by communities and neighbors belong to the latter.
Personal savings accumulation guarantee is also a realization mode and supplementary mechanism of social security in China at present. In the new "unified account" social pension and employee medical insurance, there is a statutory protection factor for personal savings accumulation. The state also advocates that individuals can apply for supplementary insurance in addition to basic old-age pension and medical insurance to improve the level of protection, which is more significant for personal savings protection. Personal investment in personal, medical, pension and other aspects of commercial insurance is also a supplementary form of personal savings protection. Social endowment insurance, which is being popularized in rural areas, is a relatively complete guarantee for personal savings accumulation. With the support of the state and the collective, it mainly accumulates pensions by individual voluntary savings, which will be used for providing for the aged after reaching the legal age of providing for the aged.
With the deepening of social insurance reform, China's social security projects and systems will be improved and developed in practice.
The establishment of social security projects is not arbitrary, but should follow the basic principles conducive to the realization of the overall goal of the social security system and the coordinated development of the social security system, which usually meet the following requirements.
The setting of 1. project must aim at solving specific security requirements. A project can solve a problem, for example, unemployment insurance can solve the problem of unemployment protection, and natural disaster relief can solve the problem of social members suffering from natural disasters. Different social security needs have different solutions, so the project setting should be specific, and one project should aim at one problem and cannot meet multiple social security needs.
2. Overall, the project settings should be coordinated. Although the demand for social security is diverse, it is not completely isolated. In essence, it is a security demand caused by survival risks. So they are related. For example, there are differences and connections between endowment insurance and universal health insurance; Unemployment insurance and poverty alleviation are both related to the demand for security. Therefore, the overall design of social security projects should pay attention to mutual coordination, so that the overall layout of the project can adapt to the coordinated solution of various social security problems, and the function of the whole social security system will not be damaged because of the incompleteness of social security projects.
3. The coordinated setting of security projects should adapt to the specific conditions of social and economic development. The generation of social security demand is always inseparable from certain social and economic conditions. Different levels of productivity, different relations of production and different modes of economic operation have different security needs and ways of meeting them. In developed and developing countries, under the conditions of market economy and non-market economy, social security needs and methods to meet these needs are quite different. Therefore, the setting of social security project types, the determination of treatment standards and the design of operation mechanism should be adapted to specific social and economic conditions and change with the changes of social and economic conditions.
4. The setting of security projects should be suitable for national conditions. Every country has different social and political systems, economic conditions, historical and cultural traditions and social and family relations. The social security needs of a country and a nation are generated under the background of its political, economic, historical, cultural and social structure, and these background factors are included in the needs. When solving the social security problem, we must take these factors into account and make the solution suitable for the characteristics of the national conditions. For example, the slow population growth and insufficient labor resources in some European countries have affected social and economic development. When designing social security projects and treatment standards, these countries often consider taking care of families with many children, and even implement social security measures to encourage childbearing. But in China, there is a large population. Controlling population and improving population quality will be a basic national policy that needs to be implemented for a long time to promote the stable development of social economy. There is no doubt that the setting of social security projects should be conducive to the implementation of this basic national policy, and the implementation of social security measures should reward fewer but better students.
Chapter 1, Section 2, Elements of Modern Social Security System
Three. Social insurance fund
Social security fund refers to the special funds for social security established by the state and society according to law, which is the material basis and elements of the social security system. It includes: social insurance fund, social relief fund, social welfare fund and special care fund.
The sources of social security funds are various, mainly from: financial allocations and policy subsidies from the central and local governments; Social security expenses borne by enterprises and institutions; Social security fees paid by individual members of society. In addition to these three main channels, there are social donations, profits of welfare enterprises and institutions, and the appreciation of social security funds themselves.
The collection, payment, storage and operation of social security funds are related to the interests of all sectors of society and are the distribution and redistribution of national income. Therefore, we must act in strict accordance with the law, and the collection and management of funds must be the responsibility of specialized government agencies or specialized social security institutions specially authorized by the government. No individual or social group may interfere in their affairs. The funds raised must be stored in special accounts and used for special purposes, and no individual or institution may misappropriate, squander or waste them. The fund raising and management process should always be subject to social supervision to ensure the normal and safe operation of the fund.
At present, there are mainly three modes of raising and paying social security funds in the world, namely, pay-as-you-go mode, complete accumulation mode and partial accumulation mode.
Pay-as-you-go is a financing method guided by the principle of recent horizontal balance. The so-called recent horizontal balance refers to the total amount of social security funds paid by all insured social security units in the current year or in the near future, which should be balanced with the total amount of social security and related expenses to be paid in the same period. According to this principle, the pay-as-you-go method generally predicts the social security expenses in the current year or in the near future, and then distributes them to all social security insured units and individuals according to the same extraction ratio, and extracts the current payment in the current period to maintain the balance in the process of income and expenditure. The calculation of the required expenses is generally based on the total actual expenditure last year and the total expected increase this year. When the fund actually contributes, it is usually necessary to make the total withdrawal slightly larger than the total expected payment, so as to make a slight balance and ensure that the actual expenditure can be met.
Complete accumulation, also known as reserve accumulation. This is a way to raise social security funds under the guidance of the principle of long-term vertical balance. The so-called long-term vertical balance refers to the overall balance between the sum of social security funds and income payments and the amount of social security and related expenses expected to be paid during the planning period. This principle emphasizes the gradual accumulation of funds in a long period of time, the gradual use of funds, and the maintenance of vertical circulation balance. Using this method, we must first make a long-term macro forecast of social and economic development, and relevant indicators such as population, employment, health, interest rate, etc. And on this basis, calculate the total social security expenses during the planned period, and then according to the required expenses, all units and individuals participating in social security will pay according to the planned proportion during the planned period, and strictly and scientifically manage and operate the accumulated funds.
Partial accumulation, also known as mixed type, is to determine the withdrawal of funds by stages according to the principle of balance of payments, that is, under the premise of meeting the expenses for a certain period, there is a certain accumulation, which has the characteristics of pay-as-you-go and complete accumulation.
China's social security fund is raised by the government according to the actual needs of payment and the affordability of enterprises and employees, and in accordance with the principle of fixed income with support, slight balance and partial accumulation, and the method of partial accumulation is adopted. The principles and methods of raising social security funds in China meet the needs of the reform and development of China's social security system. It is conducive to reducing the burden of national and social security, not only meeting the needs of current social security, but also meeting the requirements of long-term development, giving full play to the function of social security in a stable and lasting way and creating favorable conditions for the reform of social security system.
The raising of social security funds must also determine a reasonable social security rate according to the affordability of society and individuals. The so-called social security rate is the legal share of the state, the collective and the individual to the social security fund. As far as collectives or individuals are concerned, it refers to the proportion of social security payable in unit time to their total wages or individual wages. The determination of social security rate is a very complicated project, which should be comprehensively considered from two aspects: the needs of security fees and the economic affordability of the state, the collective and the individual. It is necessary to control the burden on all parties within a reasonable and appropriate range. We should adjust and control the security needs beyond the capacity of all parties.
After the establishment of social security fund, the fund does not exist in physical form, but in monetary form. Under the condition of modern market economy, restricted by inflation and other factors, the fund needs to operate safely and effectively in order to maintain and increase its value. Preserving value is to make the growth rate of fund currency equal to the inflation rate; Appreciation means that the growth rate of fund currency is greater than the inflation rate.
Maintaining and increasing the value of the fund is of great significance for maintaining and strengthening the material foundation of the social security system.
Inflation makes prices rise and the purchasing power of money decrease, which will lead to an increase in the cost of maintaining basic living needs and an increase in the expenditure of social security funds, thus devaluing the actual value of social security funds, especially the accumulated part of funds. Take the pension and retirement expenses in China as an example, the average per capita was 574 yuan in 1978, nearly doubled to 1043 yuan in 199 1 year, and nearly doubled to 1906 yuan in 1985. A considerable part of the rapid growth of pensions is caused by inflation. In order to offset the impact of inflation, it is necessary to maintain and increase the value of the fund. Otherwise, the fund may depreciate due to inflation and it is difficult to guarantee payment.
In addition, the effective preservation and appreciation of the fund is of great significance to reducing the burden on the state, enterprises and individuals and alleviating the contradiction of the relative shortage of social security funds. The expenditure of social security fund is huge, which is a big burden to the country, enterprises and individuals. Many countries have experienced social security financial crisis many times in the process of implementing social security. Social security funds are huge. If the capital itself can open up safe and effective value-added channels, it can alleviate the contradiction of insufficient funds and reduce the burden on all parties to some extent. From the practice of some countries in recent decades, it is feasible and effective to open up channels for maintaining and increasing the value of social security funds. One third of the existing US$ 2 trillion pension funds in the United States are operated by investment company groups that have emerged since the 1960s. Their investment is wise and decisive, and the return is considerable. The general rate of return is between 20-30%, and some projects are as high as 20-30 times. For example, the investment in Apple's computer project is as high as 100 times. [2] In the early 1980s, the interest income of social security funds in the United States and West Germany accounted for 8.5% of the sources of social insurance funds, while that in the Netherlands was 16.7%. [3]
The basic way to achieve the goal of maintaining and increasing the value of social security fund is social security fund investment. This kind of investment is different from general financial and industrial investment. Refers to the statutory management institutions or specialized agencies entrusted by them to use social security funds to invest in specific financial assets or actual assets permitted by national policies and laws in order to obtain appropriate expected returns.
The investment of social security fund is specially restricted by special national laws and policies in terms of investment direction, structure and scale, so as to ensure the safe and standardized operation of investment. For social security fund investment, safety is the first. If the investment is unsafe, once the principal is not recovered, it will affect the normal operation of the social security system, the distribution of security funds and the basic life of the security objects, and the social stability. Therefore, many countries have special laws and regulations to give special guidance and norms to the investment of social security funds. For example, in the mid-1980s, the Malaysian government stipulated that funds could be used to buy trust fund securities, stocks and bonds of state-owned companies, and at the same time stipulated that at least 70% of all investments should be used to buy government securities. According to relevant policies formulated by Turkey 1980, 40% of social insurance funds can invest in real estate and 60% can buy bonds and stocks. [4]
Social security fund investment must also take into account social and economic benefits, especially social benefits. This is determined by the public welfare of the social security fund itself. No matter how good the economic benefits are, any investment is not beneficial to the public, and social security funds cannot be selected. On the premise of ensuring social benefits, striving for good economic benefits is also the basic purpose of social security fund investment.
The income obtained by the social security fund is not directly used for distribution, but must be returned to the fund to enhance the strength of the fund and reduce the security burden of the state and society. Generally speaking, the state does not tax the income of social security funds to show its support for social security.
There are various forms of social security fund investment, mainly including:
Bank deposit: deposit social security funds in state-owned or non-state-owned banks to obtain interest income.
Trust deposit: funds are deposited in trust and investment institutions, not banks. The fund not only earns interest at the agreed interest rate, but also receives dividends from trust deposit institutions within a fixed period of time. Trust deposits are generally more profitable than bank deposits.
Securities investment: using funds to buy bonds issued by the government, enterprises or financial institutions and stocks of joint-stock companies. Among them, national debt is the main target.
Tangible assets investment: use funds to invest assets in land, real estate, medical facilities and enterprises with good development prospects in order to obtain profits. This form of investment generally accounts for a very low proportion in social security fund investment.
Investment can be directly operated by social security institutions, that is, direct investment; Investment can also be entrusted, and social security institutions entrust professional investment institutions to invest.
Chapter 1, Section 2, Elements of Modern Social Security System
Four, social security management institutions
Social security management organization refers to the authority established according to law to be responsible for social security administration and business management.
Social security management institutions are the organizational elements of the social security system. How to scientifically set up social security management institutions and determine their management functions and mechanisms plays an extremely important role in improving social security management level, using social security funds reasonably, scientifically and economically, and improving service quality and work efficiency.
The establishment of social security management institutions, countries around the world have established different management systems according to their own political and economic conditions, historical and cultural traditions and other social factors, generally there are three representative types:
1. government management, that is, departments and institutions set up by the government directly manage social security.
2. Autonomous management, that is, enterprises and institutions, under the supervision and guidance of the government, set up autonomous institutions for social security projects in accordance with the regulations and implement autonomous management.
3. Trade union management, that is, under the supervision and guidance of the government, semi-official trade unions are responsible for managing social security affairs.
Social security management system changes with the changes of social, political, economic and cultural factors. At present, the general trend of the development of social security management system in the world is that the policy management of social security should be centralized and the business management tends to be decentralized. In addition to Germany, France and a few other countries that established social security earlier and have a tradition of self-management, they still retain their original self-management institutions. Later, countries that gradually established social security systems generally adopted the national management system. State management is not everything the government does. The decision-making power and administrative power of social security are concentrated in the hands of the government, while business services are decentralized until they are decentralized to the grassroots, which is more conducive to being close to the public and serving the objects of protection.
The establishment of social security institutions and the system of exercising management functions in China are the organic combination of government management and social management. According to the authority of management organization, it can be divided into three layers: central management organization, local management organization and grass-roots management organization.
The central management organization refers to the state authority responsible for the leadership, decision-making and coordination of social security. Its main functions are to participate in the unified legislation of social security, be responsible for the overall planning of social security, lead and supervise the effective implementation and execution of social security laws and plans, and implement the national overall adjustment of social security funds. For example, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions in China are such national social security management and supervision institutions.
Local management organization: it is the local branch of the central social security management organization, and it is the auxiliary and transmission layer in the whole social security management organization system. The main functions of local social security management institutions are: responsible for implementing the central social security legislation and decision-making, formulating local social security implementation rules and supplementary provisions, responsible for the adjustment of social security funds in the region, accepting social security complaints, mediating and arbitrating relevant disputes, inspecting, supervising and feeding back the implementation of social security business, and so on. For example, the labor department (bureau), civil affairs department (bureau) and other related institutions established in various provincial administrative regions in China.
Grass-roots management organization: it is an executive organization established in grass-roots administrative areas to implement daily social security management. Its main functions are: to be responsible for the collection of social security fees, the distribution of social security benefits, the establishment and preservation of security files, and social security services. The work of grass-roots management institutions is mainly to implement the national social security laws and regulations and the instructions of higher management institutions. For example, labor and civil affairs offices, social insurance offices and grass-roots institutions in streets and towns.
In order to give full play to the management function of social security and improve management efficiency, China also separates the administrative management of social security from the business management, and horizontally divides it into administrative management institutions and business management institutions.
The administrative organs of social security are the departments and institutions that governments at all levels exercise their administrative functions and powers of social security. Its main function is to undertake administrative work in social security management. Social security administration refers to the administrative authority and means of organization and leadership, planning, personnel, coordination, supervision and finance. The responsibilities entrusted by the state are realized by the social security administrative agencies. The main contents of social security management include: formulating and implementing social security laws, policies and overall plans, inspecting and supervising the implementation of policies, regulations and plans, accepting social security complaints, mediating and arbitrating disputes in social security activities, and training and appointing cadres of social security system.
Business management institutions are institutions engaged in specific social security business at all levels, and their management business mainly includes:
Establish and keep social security object files, truthfully register and review social security object qualification materials, and record their changes in a timely manner. Such as the correct length of service of the insured, the immediate family members who have been determined to support, the quantity, date and change of income and social security contributions, and the standard, quantity, date and change of receiving social security benefits.
Do a good job in the financial management of social security, including the preparation of social security financial budget and final accounts, the planned and rational organization, distribution and use of funds, the daily financial accounting and statements, and strict accounting supervision.
Accept the application of social security objects, identify the qualifications and obligations of the applicants, and go through the examination and approval procedures. Carry out service activities and social security publicity and education, and manage and use social security service facilities.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the establishment and management system of social security institutions in China have undergone several changes. Due to the long-term operation under the planned system, the level of socialized management is low, the phenomenon of multi-head management and fragmentation is serious, and there are many disadvantages. It is imperative to reform them actively and steadily.
Further reading: How to buy insurance, which is good, and teach you how to avoid these "pits" of insurance.