Social Assistance Pilots Program SA Pilots Seminar Social

Social Assistance Pilots Program SA Pilots Seminar Social electronic cards: International experience Viachaslau Herasimovich CASE Ukraine March, 2010

Content 1. Kinds of electronic social cards. Their advantages and disadvantages 2. Example of advanced technologies application in the U. S. A. 3. Social card of Moscow resident 4. Comparison of Odessa and Moscow projects 5. Conclusions. Recommendations 1

Kinds of electronic cards used in the system of social protection Bank cards. Currently being introduced in developing countries and accepted in developed countries as given. They are used to deliver monetized benefits and help to protect entitled beneficiaries from theft. Discount Cards. Used to deliver non-monetized privileges usually in transportation and allow controlling of who is benefiting from privileges. Used all over the developed world. Smart Cards. Rather sophisticated way of delivering monetized or non-monetized benefits and most importantly of controling the usage of funds. Best examples can be found in the USA and Moscow. 1

Bank cards Advantages Drawbacks Simplify and reduce the cost of assistance delivery (savings on administration) Elderly population, is not necessarily technically savvy and may have difficulty performing transactions Protect the receiver from theft and loss of funds Offer freedom of movement to the recipient Source: Finance Ministry of Ukraine Increase volume of non-cash transactions 6

Discount cards Mostly used in provision of transportation privileges. Discount cards enable the eligible passengers to have either free access to the public transport system and to pay less for their journeys. Advantages Drawbacks Provide significantly better protection against fraud Expensive to implement Facilitate creation of a register of beneficiaries Difficulty of coordination between local and central budget Source: Finance Ministry of Ukraine Enable to track the number of discounted and free journeys Monitor the flow of passengers Possible discrimination by place of residence

Examples of implementation of transport discount cards Local United budget / Kingdom, City USA – travel transport privileges are paid by city councils. Central budget / Across country travel Central budget / City travel Russia, Baltic states, Germany – beneficiaries are eligible for privileged travel in their districts of residence only. Ireland, France– compensatio n goes from central budget to serviceproviders; Mini-states (Hong Kong, Taiwan ) – central budget same as local. 1

Smart Cards Not only the amount of available funds are stored in the memory of smart cards but also a list of essential goods, which the recipient can purchase with these funds. Thus, the state both ensures the eligibility for social assistance and controls that this assistance is properly provided. Advantages Drawbacks Provide significantly better protection against fraud Costly implementation Enable government to control the use of funds May be perceived as a break of privacy Source: Finance Ministry of Ukraine Allow for accumulation of information about each recipient and creation of a sort of "credit history"

Example of using smart cards in the USA - WIC program. Federal grants to States for supplemental foods Objective is to provide supplemental foods, health. care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income eligible who are found to be at nutritional risk. Total number of beneficiaries is 8. 7 million. Funding in 2008 – USD 6. 2 billion. 1

Conditions for successful smart cards implementation on example of WIC program Participation of large retailers with a network of stores which are able to accept the benefit smart card Awareness and acceptance of the rules by both the assistance recipients and its providers Investments into building a suitable future proof smart card infrastructure Focus on long-term goals 1

Social card of the Moscow resident – is a personal (named) plastic card with photo, magnetic stripe and microchip, which is issued to a resident of Moscow having the right to receive social assistance. Magnetic stripe: Banking application Card number, date of issue Contactless chip: Public transport Photo Name, Benefits category Bar code - discounts in trade 1

Social card of the Moscow resident The actual registration of volume and quality of granted privileges Passenger flow monitoring Ability to get detailed report on all aspects of transport functioning and provision of benefits Automatic bank transfer of funds Provision of social benefits in trade Payments and discounts for medical services Collecting of personal information from the Social Register and other information systems 1

Social card of the Moscow citizen. Purposes and participants Objectives: regulate the delivery of social benefits to Moscow citizens - registration and targeted provision of social support provide full control and accounting transparency of financial flows and control over the targeted use of budgetary funds in the field of social welfare create a common electronic register to track down state benefit recipients monitor the compensation of expenses to organisations that provide privileges simplify budget preparation, analysis and forecasting of budget expenditures based on actual services consumption. Project Participants: Moscow Committee for Social Security Moscow Underground Moscow Railway Moscow Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund Department of Economic Policy and Development Department of Consumer Market and Services of the Moscow Government Bank of Moscow Visa Payments System State Enterprise “Moscow social register” 1

Social card of the Odessa resident Introduced 1 April 2008 Eligible : Multi-children families Disabled of 1 st group Pensioners getting minimum pension Help provided Discounts for bread Hot food Medicines allowances Housing and utilities benefits 1

Comparison of Odessa and Moscow projects Moscow Odessa Local and central Local 5 million 60, 000 Funding, 2008 RUR 20 billion (UAH 5. 3 billion) UAH 40 million Functions integration Multipurpose use Subsidies on food, medicines, housing and utilities services Visa International Service Association VISA National system of mass electronic payments (NSMEP) Funding source Number of potential beneficiaries Payment system

Trade off between simplicity and effectiveness Effectiveness Requirements Issues that challenge simplicity Costs distribution amongst partners Integration of functions Card ownership Different requests to security Storage of personal information on the card Cardholders awareness Security, data protection Connection to the bank account Simple procedure of issue and support Accessibility and convenience of services 1

Conclusions. Recommendations Electronic social cards may be successfully introduced at both local and national level. While providing transportation benefits through electronic cards is crucial for effectiveness and success of their introduction at local level, significant value and variety of benefits provided through one card becomes important when the card is introduced across the country. To increase attractiveness of SEC, cooperation of several benefit-providers with reliable processing system and other entities involved would be required. A separate analysis will be needed to analyse technical particularities of SEC introduction as well as to evaluate costs and benefits of it. Due to little experience of electronic cards usage among vulnerable groups of population in Ukraine, cardholders’ awareness may become a major issue, which may require well prepared information campaign. 1