The reform measures implemented regarding social insurance-based benefits under the new Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers envisage the automation of the assignment of these benefits, as well as a number of citizen-oriented and humane changes in the field of their assignment.

Thus, four types of social insurance-based benefits:

• temporary incapacity for work benefit;
• maternity benefit;
• childcare benefit for children up to the age of 3;
• one-off funeral benefit

will be assigned in an automated, proactive manner starting from 1 May of this year.

As a result, there will be no need for employees to apply for the assignment of these benefits or to collect and submit various documents, and a number of additional obligations of employers (establishment of a commission, preparation and submission of protocols, calculation sheets, etc.) will be eliminated.

For example, if the procedure for assigning the childcare benefit for children up to the age of 3 currently consists of four stages (submission of the child’s birth certificate by the employee to the employer, decision-making by the Commission, submission of documents by the employer to the State Social Protection Fund, and payment of the benefit by the Fund), from 1 May this procedure will be completed in only one stage (assignment of the benefit based on data available in e-systems).

These proactive assignment mechanisms will ensure that the payment process of social insurance-based benefits becomes more efficient and transparent, and will enable the payment of social insurance-based benefits, which currently require a certain amount of time to obtain, within a shorter period.

As a result of the new reform measures, the following will also be implemented:

• if currently the temporary incapacity for work benefit is paid at 60 per cent, 80 per cent, or 100 per cent depending on the insured person’s length of service, it will now be paid at 100 per cent to every employee regardless of length of service;
• if the temporary incapacity for work benefit is currently paid for 6 months to persons with disabilities and for 12 months to other persons, it will now be paid to every employee for a period of 12 months;
• if double childcare benefit is currently paid only for children of persons with disabilities related to the Chernobyl accident, double childcare benefit will now be granted for all children with disabilities;
• the employer’s obligation related to the calculation of the amount of temporary incapacity for work and maternity benefits will also be eliminated, and this calculation will be carried out by the insurer (the State Social Protection Fund).