Local disparities in paths through social assistance in Belgium

1. Local disparities in paths through social assistance in Belgium Sarah Carpentier Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy Antwerp University Aspen-Etui Conference 2009 Brno (20-21 March)

2. Outline • Background • Characteristics of the Belgian social assistance scheme • Towards an individualised work based social assistance scheme • Geographical disparities in the incidence of social assistance claimants • Evidence on the duration of the first spell • Explanatory mechanisms for local variation in time on welfare • Conclusion

3. Background • Transition to an active welfare state is well documented • But local variation is largely uncharted territory (Finn, 2000; Meyers, 1998) • Yet, pertinent for legal security and equal access to social rights (Cox, 1998) • Literature on social assistance dynamics • Covers mainly the dependency versus heterogeneity hypotheses • Institutional impact and contextual effects are rarely documented (except ESOPO-project)

4. 2. Characteristics of the Belgian social assistance scheme • Low percentage of social assistance claimants (0.8% of adult population in 2004) due to • Corporatist welfare regime (Esping-Andersen, 1990) • Existing social security schemes school leavers: flat-rate unemployment benefit unemployment benefit in principle unlimited in time

5. 2. Characteristics of the Belgian social assistance scheme • Decentralised organisation (since 1974) • National statutory framework • Local welfare agencies (OCMW’s/CPAS) = Autonomous organisations under public law governed by politically appointed councils • Administer federal law with broad autonomy & margin of appreciation • Task to take supplementary initiatives according to own insight & to local needs to ensure human dignity Devolution

6. 2. Characteristics of the Belgian social assistance scheme • Entitlement is conditioned on a family-based means test • Entitlement is unlimited in time Administratively, subject for revision after one year • To international standards Belgium has a low benefit level (Van Mechelen & De Maesschalck, 2009) and supplementary benefits are fully subject to local discretion

7. 3. Towards an individualised work based social assistance scheme • Spring Programme (2000) aims at increased labour market integration by • Enhanced subsidy for employment programmes • Diversification of general & specific social employment programmes

8. 3. Towards an individualised work based social assistance scheme • Social Integration Act (2002) = Introduction of work based & individualised social assistance scheme • Explicit aim of societal integration and self-sufficiency through labour market integration • Strict interpretation of availability for work • Focus on rights and duties • Strengthening of tailor-made approach • Reinforcement of recipients as active participants

9. 3. Towards an individualised work based social assistance scheme • Implementation of Social Integration Act (2002) • Generalisation of personal social integration contract • No methodologies to assess availability for work and exemption from availability for work • No instruments to allocate recipients to training and employment programmes • Crucial notions are not (clearly) defined Enhanced local discretionary power

10. 4. Geographical disparities in percentage of adults claiming social assistance (2004)

11. Mean percentage of adults claiming social assistance by groups of municipalities Source: Data Warehouse Labour Market & Social Security, 2004, own calculations

13. 5. Evidence on the duration of the first spell • Data • Administrative records from the Data Warehouse Labour Market and Social Security • Advances on social security benefits are excluded • 1/3 proportionally stratified sample of 2004 cohort entrants (N=14503) aged between 18 and 65 • Observation window of 36 months, monthly recorded data

14. 5. Evidence on the duration of the first spell • Methodology • Event history analysis in a continuous time framework • No time-varying covariates Municipality characteristics at entry time • Study of the duration of the first spell • Unspecified exit • Breaks of maximum 2 months are allowed • (Complementary) participation in a social employment programme is considered as an exit

15. 5. Evidence on the duration of the first spell • An exit is not necessarily a meaningful improvement of the living standard (Kazepov,1999; Hansen, 2008) Exit covers several realities: • Participation in labour market programme • Regular employment • Entitlement to social security benefit or other social assistance benefit • Change in household composition or labour market situation (no longer entitled) • Administrative sanction • Suspension due to stay in foreign country or admission in institution covered by the state

16. 5. Evidence on the duration of the first spell • Duration of first spell may be highly misleading (due to cycling) • A short time on social assistance is not necessarily an indication of a good welfare policy (Kazepov, 1999; Saraceno, 2002)

17. Huge local variation in median duration & a high turnover to international standards Source: Data Warehouse Labour Market & Social Security, own calculations *= calculated for the 159 municipalities with at least 20 recipients in our sample

18. Median duration of 1st spell by region and by number of inhabitants in the community Source: Data Warehouse Labour Market & Social Security, own calculations

19. Source: Data Warehouse Labour Market & Social security, own calculations

20. Source: Data Warehouse Labour Market & Social security, own calculations

22. 6. Explanatory mechanisms for local variation in time on welfare • Population composition • Local labour market conditions • Institutional design and implementation of social assistance • Generosity • Allocation to training and labour market programmes • Sanctions • Local welfare mix • Networks and resources • Efficacy of training and labour market programmes

23. 7. Conclusion • Substantial local variation in the percentage of adults claiming social assistance by municipality (0 – 8%) A clear regional pattern with regard to the incidence, and a concentration in the cities • High turnover in Belgium to international standards (median duration of 8 months) • Huge disparities in the median duration of the first spell by municipality: from 3 till 27 months

24. 7. Conclusion • The Flemish region has the highest turnover (median duration is 6 months) • Indication of a negative relationship between the incidence of social assistance and the duration of the first spell and for the number of inhabitants in a municipality and for the socio-economic clusters • Further exploration of determinants of local disparities is needed to gain insight in the role of local welfare agency policy

25. Thank you for your attention! Comments are also welcome on Sarah.carpentier@ua.ac.be

26. Percentage of net disposable social assistance income for different household types to the 60% poverty threshold Source: Stasim, 2004, own calculations