Armenia to reorganize pension and benefit assignment process
06.07.2020,
16:22
Armenian Labor and Social Affairs Minister Zaruhi Batoyan announced today the launch of a process designed to reorganize the procedure for assignment and payment of pensions and benefits .
YEREVAN, July 6. /ARKA./ Armenian Labor and Social Affairs Minister Zaruhi Batoyan announced today the launch of a process designed to reorganize the procedure for assignment and payment of pensions and benefits.
'In order to implement reforms, the government’s program has enshrined specific measures, including structural reforms. Currently, the assignment and payment of pensions, benefits and cash to beneficiaries of a number of social programs is carried out by 51 territorial divisions of the Social Insurance Service," she said in a Facebook statement.
She said that currently all related issues are handled by one and the same body and this process is complex for several reasons: an employee of the territorial division personally serves citizens, at the same time making decisions, which implies work that requires various skills and therefore takes up additional time and resources; communication between the decision maker and the beneficiaries is risky in terms of the objectivity of the decisions made; as a result this negatively affects the confidence of citizens in the system.
Based on the above problems, the changes will begin on August 1: in Yerevan, the territorial branches of the Social Insurance Service will be completely reorganized, and instead, new units will be set up to assign and service pensions with their back and front offices.
Ten departments will be dealing exclusively with servicing citizens - receiving their applications and providing them with advice. This is expected to improve the service process.
Another five 5 departments will be centrally dealing with processing of applications and making decisions, so that responsible persons will focus only on the process of assigning a pension, as a result of which work efficiency will increase.
Thanks to new software, applications will be distributed among employees according to the principle of randomness, excluding contacts between specialists and citizens. As a result, the objectivity of decision-making will increase, corruption risks will decrease.
Reducing the role of the human factor in the process of assigning pensions will lead to increased transparency of the system and increase the confidence of citizens in the system. Service departments will continue to work in their former places, while pension assignment departments in a separate central office. The next stage of the reform will be implemented in the regions by the end of the year, according to the minister. -0-
'In order to implement reforms, the government’s program has enshrined specific measures, including structural reforms. Currently, the assignment and payment of pensions, benefits and cash to beneficiaries of a number of social programs is carried out by 51 territorial divisions of the Social Insurance Service," she said in a Facebook statement.
She said that currently all related issues are handled by one and the same body and this process is complex for several reasons: an employee of the territorial division personally serves citizens, at the same time making decisions, which implies work that requires various skills and therefore takes up additional time and resources; communication between the decision maker and the beneficiaries is risky in terms of the objectivity of the decisions made; as a result this negatively affects the confidence of citizens in the system.
Based on the above problems, the changes will begin on August 1: in Yerevan, the territorial branches of the Social Insurance Service will be completely reorganized, and instead, new units will be set up to assign and service pensions with their back and front offices.
Ten departments will be dealing exclusively with servicing citizens - receiving their applications and providing them with advice. This is expected to improve the service process.
Another five 5 departments will be centrally dealing with processing of applications and making decisions, so that responsible persons will focus only on the process of assigning a pension, as a result of which work efficiency will increase.
Thanks to new software, applications will be distributed among employees according to the principle of randomness, excluding contacts between specialists and citizens. As a result, the objectivity of decision-making will increase, corruption risks will decrease.
Reducing the role of the human factor in the process of assigning pensions will lead to increased transparency of the system and increase the confidence of citizens in the system. Service departments will continue to work in their former places, while pension assignment departments in a separate central office. The next stage of the reform will be implemented in the regions by the end of the year, according to the minister. -0-
