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SOCIAL SECURITY OF SENIORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Journal of Health Sciences Management and Public Health Vilém Kahoun1, Martin Šimák1 ABSTRACT The article deals with the social security legislation of the Czech Republic with focus on social security of seniors.

Seniors enjoy pension insurance and in certain cases, such as when their income is insufficient or when they are handicapped or partly or completely helpless, also the social care services.

The system provides allowances and services to seniors.
Both systems – pension and social systems – need a radical reform.

Pension insurance faces a serious problem of further funding and social care must fight the insufficient portfolio of services provided, impossibility for the clients to receive service of its choice with the help of the provided allowance, limited participation of non-governmental entities in the service provision etc.
Key words: senior - social security - social insurance - social care - reform Introduction The authors of this article, professional lawyers from the social security branch, try to give a clear and structured account on the background legislation for social security provided to the elderly citizens of the Czech Republic.
The article may become not only a source of knowledge of the Czech social security system but also inspiration about the established practices and instruction about where improvement or change of current status is needed.

Social Security System in the Czech Republic First briefly about the social security system in the Czech Republic, its concept, structure, organisation and functioning.
The social security system is supported with 3 basic pillars – social insurance, a system of state social support and a system of social care.

Health insurance is separate and is not directly included in this structure.
Social Insurance Social insurance is designed as a compulsory insurance system for the 1 University of South Bohemia, Faculty of Health and Social Studies, Èeské Budìjovice, Czech Republic specified group of people (typically employees, including self-employees working for wage or other earnings).

The insurance provides material security in specified social incidents.
The system is fully guaranteed by the State and includes: a) work insurance (allowances in case of break in earnings for the reason of absence from work due to illness or injury, pregnancy or maternity or taking care of a family member); absence b) pension insurance (allowances paid in the case of occurrence of a disability – the so called disability pension, allowances paid in the case of reaching a certain retirement age – the so called old-age pension, and allowances paid in the case of loss of sustenance provider – widow, widower and orphan pensions); c) contribution to the State employment policy (for coverage of re- unemployment benefits, qualification studies etc.).
The liable persons pay regular insurance premium to the system.

The premium is collected as a summary amount either directly from the self- employed persons or from the employer in the case of employees working on the basis of employment contract.
The premium is calculated from the 227 Journal of Health Sciences Management and Public Health employee ´s income paid by the employer or from the summary of annual income of the self-employed persons after deduction of their costs for achievement and incurred maintenance of the income.

Part of the charged premium goes to the work absence insurance, part to the pension insurance and the remaining part is used as a contribution to the State employment policy.
The system is administered by a State institution called the Czech Social Security Administration.

The social security financing (especially pension insurance financing) is of the PAYG (pay as you go) type, i.e.

the collected premiums are immediately consumed by payment of allowances to the pensioners (from the viewpoint of pension insurance systems of most EU states this represents Pillar 1. of the pension system).
In addition every person has the option of voluntary additional pension insurance with a private pension fund with state contribution.

This Pillar 3., however, is not too effective with the current setting.

The private, employer capital- financed system as Pillar 2. has not been introduced in the Czech Republic at all yet.

The problem of such system setting is that from the viewpoint of funding the system will be long-term deficit.
The reasons mainly include unfavourable demographic development consisting in increase of the average age of the population and reduction of the birth rate, as a consequence of which the number of pensioners increases and the number employees contributing to the system drops.

Therefore a fundamental reform is being considered with emphasis on increased responsibility of every person for its own future (larger space for compulsory self-insurance of employees with employer contribution).
active of 228 State Social Support State social support is a system aimed at financial assistance to low-income families with minors (attending school).

The system provides 8 different allowances now, either one-off contributions or regular allowances (such as family allowance per child, housing contribution, parent allowance etc.).

The right to an allowance is derived from the correlation between the income of the applicant and the so called subsistence amount.
The system is administered by a State institution (Labour Offices) and fully financed from the State budget.

Social Care The system of social care is a last instance assistance or social rescue net.

The system is designed for persons with insufficient income from employment not meeting the requirements for an allowance on the basis of the previous two systems to provide these persons with basic means for living and sustenance.
The system is also designed to provide social assistance to the handicapped and the helpless.

The purpose of the social care system is therefore to help solve difficult social situations of people whose basic needs are not satisfied for different reasons (too young or too old age, unfavourable health state) and who are unable to manage the unfavourable social situation by themselves.
The social legislation stipulates provision of the allowances to all the needful, including but not limited to families with children, seniors, persons with heavy physical handicap, persons socially excluded etc.

The condition for grant of the allowance is not Czech state citizenship but permanent residence in the Czech Republic.

In some cases other conditions must be met, too, such as existence of certain types of physical or mental handicap or the so called social need.
Socially needful person means a person whose income is lower than the legal subsistence and who cannot increase the income for serious reasons (such as old age or unfavourable health state) by itself, i.e.

by own work.

Subsistence means minimum summary income of a person needed for the person´s sustenance and satisfaction of basic needs (component 1) including necessary household costs (component 2).
If a person does not receive this minimum income it is materially needful and may claim provision of some of the products of social care system.

Following the Constitution of the Czech Republic the assistance to satisfaction of the basic personal needs can be claimed by anybody, including persons without permanent residence in the Czech Republic, who finds itself in such an unfavourable social situation.
On the basis of the above it may be summarised that the legal relationships related to social care include provision and receipt of allowances and services.
These are three basic forms of social care provision: Form one (the most frequently applied one) is represented by social care benefits which can be classified as follows: a) From the viewpoint of the time of provision as: - - one-off allowances regular allowances b) From the viewpoint of form as: - monetary allowances – in - - - particular including: contributions to care of a relative or another person, allowances provided to socially needful persons for the reason of insufficient income that cannot be increased by own efforts of the persons and that is insufficient for satisfaction of basic personal needs, allowances provided pursuant to the Decree of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to individual groups of persons for Journal of Health Sciences Management and Public Health the purpose of satisfaction of their personal needs.
- material allowances (provided as particular things in the place of money in cases when the monetary allowance is used for purposes other than intended, for example in the form of rent payment or children´s school meals payment or provision of objects of everyday need; the contents of the material is not allowance notion stipulated by any legislative definition).
in institutions Form two of social care provision is represented by institutional care (for example for handicapped youth, senior homes, marriage consultancy, social care stations, dining rooms, homes for mothers with children etc.)

provided either for 24 hours a day or for part of the day only.
Form three of social care is represented by services, including but not limited to social care services, but also including education service, consultancy service, recreational, cultural, catering and other services.
The social care system is organised by the following organisations: a) the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic (the supreme authority as the author of the overall concept and the supervisor) b) regions (higher units of regional self-government) c) municipalities (basic state self- governing units).
Regions and municipalities provide for the greatest part of the social care agenda, especially as concerns allowance provision and establishment and operation of social care institutions).

An increasing share in social services is represented by private non-state entities.
229 Journal of Health Sciences Management and Public Health Social care allowances and services are provided: a) in return for full or partial coverage by the client – recipient of the allowance or service, or b) completely free of charge – the costs being covered by the State.

The basic criterion is social situation and material condition of the service recipient, or persons close to it with the sustenance liability towards the needful person.
Social Security for Seniors Pursuant to the Constitution of the Czech Republic (Charter of Basic Human Rights and Liberties) every citizen has the right for adequate material security in old age.

The right of seniors for social protection also follows for example from the European Social Charter.

For the purpose thereof senior means any person over 65 (UN definition).

Pursuant to the Czech legislation senior means any person reaching the retirement age.
Senior citizens are provided with social security represented by the combination of the following systems: a) pension insurance; b) state social support; c) social care.

Senior Social Security by Pension Insurance Pension insurance (as part of social insurance) provides the following pensions to seniors: a) old-age pension; b) widow (or widower) pension.

The right to old-age pension arises to any person reaching the retirement age and paying social security premium for at least 25 years.
In the case of persons after 65, 15 years of social insurance payment are sufficient.

Retirement age is different for men and women and in the case of women depends on the number of raised children.

The retirement age is extended annually so that with effectiveness since 1 January 2013 the male retirement age and the childless female retirement age will be 63 years and the retirement age of women having raised children will range between 59 and 62, depending on the number of children raised (table 1).
The right to widow (widower) pension arises to the husband or the wife whose spouse received old-age or disability pension or at least met the requirements of one of these types of pensions.

The widow/widower pension is paid out to the spouse for one year and after that on condition of fulfilment of other requirements (such as care of a minor or minors).
The amount of the pension consists of two parts – a fixed rate equal for all types of pensions, and a percentage rate depending on the employment income and length of insurance.

If the pensioned is helpless (cannot do without assistance of another person) then it may claim increase of the pension for the reason of proven helplessness.
Senior Social Security by State Social Support This system is primarily designed for assistance to young families with children but some of the allowances may also be granted to seniors under certain specific conditions, including but not limited to: a) contribution to housing (regular allowance helping low-income individuals to cover their costs of Table 1. retire ment age 230 men or childless wo men 63 wo men with 1 ra ised child wo men with 2 ra ised children wo men with 3 or 4 ra ised children wo men with 5 and more raised children 62 61 60 59 living, including but not limited to rent); b) social benefit (allowance helping low-income individuals take care of at least one minor, including foster parents); funeral allowance (a one-off allowance to a person organising funeral of a deceased person – including but not limited to spouse).
c) Senior Social Security by Social Care System Seniors with income insufficient for satisfaction of basic personal needs (for example seniors with low old-age pension) or living in unfavourable living conditions (helplessness, need of assistance of another person) may be provided with the following social allowances and social services: Social Allowances for Seniors Social allowances for seniors may take the form of one-off monetary or materials allowances or regular (for example monthly) allowances.
One-off allowances include for example: - contribution to installation of a telephone station contribution to private apartment wheelchair access installation contribution to purchase, repair or adaptation of passenger car to persons with serious body motion system disability contribution to passenger car operation to seriously physically handicapped persons contribution to recreation and spa care etc.
include for Regular allowances example: - contribution to (special dietary) meals contribution of a telephone station operation contribution to costs of apartment use contribution to increased expenses related to permanent use of orthopaedic, compensatory and other aids etc.

- - - - - - - Journal of Health Sciences Management and Public Health Claim to any of the abovementioned allowances is conditioned by social need of the applicant, or (serious) physical (or mental) handicap of the applicant.
Special allowance is granted to a person taking all-day care of a helpless individual or another individual living in the same household with it.

This contribution, however, is very low in comparison to the contributions provided per hospital ward.
Social Services for Seniors Pursuant to the effective legislation social services are provided as follows: in the form of social care provided a) either in the home of the senior (and consisting for example in meal delivery, shopping, washing, assistance to personal hygiene etc.)

or directly in the social care institutions regularly (daily) visited by the senior (day care facilities, dining rooms, laundries, personal hygiene centres etc.)
in the institutional form – in places of permanent residence of the senior where the senior is provided with a series of services – including cleaning, housing, meals, healthcare and rehabilitation, cultural services etc.
b) Typical senior institutions include: - old people´s homes – for seniors needing complex care that cannot be provided by the social care staff or by the family of the senior; seniors are accepted to old people´s homes on the basis of written application filed by the senior itself pensions for seniors – for seniors who are relatively independent houses with social care service – blocks of flats for rent by seniors with the option of social service provision in their homes.
- - For the reason of insufficient capacity the waiting time for placement in the abovementioned institutions can be a couple of years.

231 Journal of Health Sciences Management and Public Health Discussion and Conclusion In terms of a conclusion it needs to be said that both systems of social security critical for senior security (i.e.

pension insurance and social care) need a radical reform, which appears more and more inevitable.

This has also been confirmed by Government Resolution no.
485 of 15 May 2002 called “National Programme of Preparation for Ageing for the Period 2003 to 2007”, among other things formulating the objective of creation of adequate social conditions for respecting old age and provision of a chance for the elderly to continue to take part in the life of the society as citizens with all rights.

In the Government approved a document called “National Strategic Report on Adequate and Sustainable Old-Age Pensions”.
June 2005 As for the social insurance system the current method of financing needs change.

Or the current status may be preserved but complemented with another source, for example in the form of compulsory additional individual insurance.

The system reform, however, requires not only enormous transformation costs, but also agreement of all the key political parties.

And the latter will not be easy to reach.


The representatives of the governing political parties have so far only agreed on that the reform is necessary, and that the retirement age will need to be postponed in the future to the final 65 years.

Also the social care system in its present form is inadequate and faces a fundamental reform.

Some new social care acts has already been passed by the Parliament with effectiveness since 1 January 2007.
In this context the following changes are considered, including but not limited to: substantial extension of the portfolio of the provided services, including the so called field service, expansion of the space for non-governmental entities as service providers, change of the method of financing of services consisting in provision of contributions to services directly to the needful individuals who would choose and pay for the service at their own discretion, or de- institutionalisation of social care – i.e.
preference for provision of social care in the natural environment of the seniors´ homes rather than placement in social care institutions and provision of all kids of support to the family taking care of a senior.
The major prerequisites for successful settlement of the abovementioned problems include a sufficient number of educated professional senior care providers of all kinds (University of South Bohemia, Faculty of Health and Social Studies, Èeské Budìjovice also provides schooling to students wishing to devote their lives to senior care).
Summary The purpose of this article was to provide a basic idea of the form and functioning of the Czech social security system with focus on senior social security, including description of some of the serious drawbacks and the possibility to eliminate them.

Just basic structured information could be provided within the limited scope provided, though.
We believe that despite the number of existing problems whose solution will require a lot of time and effort the so badly needed social reforms will eventually be implemented successfully.

232 Journal of Health Sciences Management and Public Health References 1.

Hacaperková, D., Niederle, P. K zákonu o sociální potøebnosti (6).

In: Sociální politika 7-8/2001, MPSV ÈR, Praha 2001, p. 28.

2.

Kalvach, Z., Holmerová, I. Zdravotnické a sociální slu•by pro seniory.

In: Geriatrie a gerontologie.

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Praha: Grada Publishing, 2004.

861 pp.

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Králová, J., Klos, R., Solichová, I., Ivanová, K. Senioøi a problematika stárnutí.

In: Zdravotnictví v Èeské republice 3-4/VI, Praha, 2003, pp.

127 – 131.

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Ministerstvo práce a sociálních vìcí ÈR.

Národní strategická zpráva o pøimìøených a udr•itelných dùchodech.

[online] 2005.

Dostupné na: www.mpsv.cz [cit.

6.6.

2006].

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Snìhotová, Z., Jarošová, D. Péèe o seniory ve Finsku a v Èeské republice.
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46 - 49.

ОЦИАЛЬНАЯ ПОМОЩЬ НАСЕЛЕНИЮ СТАРШЕГО ВОЗРАСТА В ЧЕШСКОЙ РЕСПУБЛИКЕ Вилем Кахун, Мартин Шимак Факультет здравоохранения и социальноé помощи Университет Южноé Богемии в Чешских Будеéовицах, Будеéовицы, Чехия В статье рассматриваются проáлемы развития системы социальноé помощи населению старших возрастов в Чехии.
На основе значительного материала, соáранного авторами статьи сделан вывод о серьезных проáлемах возникших в системе пенсионного страхования.

Предлагается существенно расширить социальные программы для пожилых и старых людеé с привлечением неправительственных организациé.

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