DOI: https://doi.org/10.62204/2336-498X-2025-1-6

EUROPEAN PRACTICE OF ASSESSING SOCIAL PROTECTION

IN THE CONDITIONS OF A RESILIENT ECONOMY

 

Yuliia Chaliuk,

Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor,

Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman

chaliuk.yuliia@kneu.edu.ua; ORCID: 0000-0002-4128-392X

 

Annotation. Analysis of approaches, indicators and criteria for determining the impact of Social services on the Global economy socialization revealed the need to improve existing methodological approaches with the need to shift emphasis to assessing the economic component and effects of the Social services provision both at the level of the Global economy and national economic systems. The study of methodological approaches to assessing Social protection of the population in Ukraine revealed a number of challenges both in the national methodology, established by law, and in alternative methods developed with the assistance of international and foreign institutions, in particular the European Commission. Ukraine needs to improve methodological approaches to the assessment of Social services, where special attention should be paid to establishing their impact on the socialization and resilience of global and National economies.

Keywords: social protection, social security, resilient economy, socialization of the global economy, method of evaluating social services, social standards of the EU, indicators of the development of the social sphere.

 

Analysis of Recent Research and Publications. Studying the experience of evaluating Social services makes it possible to claim that it is aimed more at evaluating the quality of providing the mentioned services and satisfying the social needs of consumers from receiving them, and the components of evaluating the effect of such services on the economy and resilience are of a secondary nature. Assessment of Social services mainly occurs at the level of state institutions, while non-state institutions can only evaluate any segment of social protection or their own activities.

Yu. V. Goremykina suggests using expert assessment of Social services, in which users and social workers serve as the experts. It is recommended that assessment be carried out at three levels: central level (state), territorial level (territorial unit) and social service level. The main groups of assessment parameters are: quality assessment of Social services provision; assessing the quality of receiving Social services; assessment of the provision of resources for the Social services provision [1, p. 123].

The study of Yu. V. Goremykina’s methodological approach in assessing Social services makes it possible to point out the disadvantages of the mentioned process: the complexity of conducting the assessment due to its multi-level nature and the amount of information that requires processing; high level of subjectivity due to the emphasis only on expert assessment; insufficient detail of parameters and criteria for assessing Social services; the influence of Social services on the socialization of the national and Global economy is not taken into account.

1. Shcherban, R. Sheiko, G. Levkina propose the assessment methodology that can be used for internal assessment of Social services, as well as the Social services provision in a certain territory or in the state as a whole.

Evaluation indicators are divided into three groups:

– For the social service (material and technical base; financing; working conditions; training / qualifications of personnel; psychological climate in the team; quantity, quality and efficiency of Social services provided; accessibility of Social services);

– For a separate territorial unit (level of satisfaction of users of Social services; market conditions for Social services; efficiency of meeting demand; compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements; program planning; efficiency of use of budget funds; reputation; cooperation and communication; awareness and transparency);

– For the state in general (meeting the needs for Social services; coverage with Social services; compliance with international norms and standards of social protection; awareness and transparency).

Institutions of central and local authorities, as well as public organizations, can conduct assessments using the proposed methodology. Methods of collecting information to evaluate Social services should be: mass survey; in-depth interview; focused group interview; observation; document analysis; tactics of qualitative research and the use of case studies (research tactics that involve a thorough analysis of a specific case, social group or organization through the use of qualitative research methods) [2, p. 10].

The methodology for assessing Social services, developed and proposed for use by S. Shcherban, R. Sheiko, G. Levkina, also has some shortcomings: the lack of clear criteria for assessing Social services; limited number of parameters for assessing social protection at the state level; insufficient consideration of the impact of Social services on the socialization of national and global economies; emphasis on state and municipal Social services; insufficient attention to the economic parameters of the Social services provision and the economic effects of consumption of such services.

The study of approaches, indicators and criteria for assessing Social services makes it possible to indicate that existing methodological developments require improvement with a shift in emphasis from assessing the quality of services to economic efficiency and influence on the socialization of global and National economies. This requires the development of new methodological approaches to assessing Social services and diagnosing such services at the global and national levels.

Research results. The most notable efforts to assess the impact of Social services on society, the quality of life of the population and economic systems in the countries of the European Union. Taking into account the de facto confederation approach to the formation of an interstate entity, the evaluation of Social services in the EU is carried out mainly at the level of individual countries that can actively use the achievements of other EU member states.

In France, quality standards and assessment tools are legally established, carried out by the Agency for the Assessment of Social services. However, the emphasis is on the quality of their provision. Providers of Social services belonging to non-state institutions must establish accreditation, obtain certificates and periodically confirm them through the assessment procedure. Particular attention in the assessment of Social services is paid to the study of the professional skills and competencies of social workers. State and non-state institutions, service users and service personnel (social workers) of social institutions/services take part in the processes of improving methods for assessing Social services. Self-assessment and the involvement of independent experts in the assessment of Social services has limited application [3, p. 230].

Germany, at the federal and local levels, has legislated standards for the assessment of Social services (SGBXI), noting the assessment of Social services by state and municipal institutions. At the same time, the areas of verification and assessment are clearly demarcated between the relevant government institutions.

The country has developed the German Social Insurance Code, which defines the minimum parameters for assessing Social services: availability of services; communication with service recipients and between social service employees; working conditions of social workers; skills and competence of social workers Federal and local government institutions, non-state institutions, service users, and social workers take part in improving methods for assessing Social services. The assessment is mainly carried out comprehensively for individual providers/providers of Social services based on a scoring system (Pflegenoten). Service providers (self-assessment) and external experts also participate in the assessment of Social services, but such the assessment is not mandatory [3, p. 218].

In Poland, in the absence of special legislative support for regulating the assessment of Social services, only a few regulations are in force for certain types of Social services. At the same time, social service providers must have ISO certificates. The Quality Monitoring Center operates in the country, but it does not specialize in Social services. In Poland, there are no uniform parameters for assessing Social services. Mostly state institutions are involved in improving methods for assessing Social services, with little cooperation from non-state institutions. Service users and social workers are excluded from the process of assessing and improving Social services [3, p. 228].

Romania has introduced special standards for assessing Social services. For the Social services provision, a standard for assessing such services (EQRM) is in force and the accreditation procedure has been introduced. The following parameters are assessed:

• service availability; conditions for staff (social workers); qualifications and level of education of personnel. State and non-state institutions, as well as users of such services, take part in improving methods for assessing Social services (social workers are not involved in this process). Social service providers may, at their own discretion, conduct the internal assessment, but the information they receive as a result of the assessment has the right not to be made public [3, p. 219].

In Spain, criteria and procedures for assessing Social services are established at the legislative level. The assessment is mainly carried out by central authorities and local governments. Information on the results of the procedure is available to the public and recipients of services and may become a basis for refusal to engage relevant organizations in the future in the Social services provision. The parameters for assessing Social services are mainly introduced by local governments and are quite different. The emphasis is made on the significance of assessing the working conditions of staff and the level of qualifications of social workers. Authorities of central government and local self-government, non-state institutions, including providers of Social services, users of services and their relatives, social workers take part in the processes of improving methods for assessing Social services [3, p. 228].

In Sweden, social service providers participate in tenders for their provision. Important in this process is the accreditation of social service providers and the assessment of activities for the previous period according to legally established criteria. Information on the evaluation of Social services is publicly available. Regulations are developed by the National Health and Welfare Board and assessed by the National Health and Welfare Office. The Open Comparison project operates in the country that makes it possibleers of such services and their relatives to be involved in the evaluation of Social services and their providers. The conclusion is drawn on the following parameters of Social services: ensuring quality of life (well-being, well-being); availability of services; personnel competence; continuity of service; conditions for the Social services provision; results of receiving Social services by consumers State and non-state institutions, as well as service users, take part in the process of improving methods for assessing Social services [3, p. 225].

The Swedish methodology for assessing Social services is based on compliance with five principles:

– Reducing the variability of the obtained indicators in relation to a certain standard;

– Obtaining certain planned effects of social and social protection;

– Achieving the declared strategic and tactical political goals (within the framework of social policy);

– Meeting the requirements of users and giving priority to their requirements in improving social protection;

– Formation of an appropriate organizational structure of the system for providing Social services [4, p. 38].

Considering that the assessment of Social services in Sweden is focused on studying their quality, there are three types of quality of such services:

• Structural quality concerns resources, personnel and their level of competence, the location of service delivery and the number of groups of people requiring social protection;
• Procedural quality includes the implementation of services – labor conditions, attitude towards clients, working climate;
• The quality of the results determines the goals of the organization (social service) and whether the results correspond to the official (stated, planned) objectives of social policy [5, p. 82].

In the UK (England and Scotland), the assessment of Social services occurs at the level of government institutions – national verification authorities: in Great Britain – this is the Quality Care Commission, in Scotland – the Social Security Regulatory Commission. National social protection standards are applied and the “Best Value” approach is being implemented, in which local authorities, based on long-term population development forecasts, introduce changes to the social service delivery system to ensure sustainable and high-quality provision of such services. The assessment of Social services is carried out by local governments, with the emphasis on the following indicators: implementation of state social protection programs; management of public resources, as well as financial ones, provided to communities to solve the social problems of their inhabitants; responding to the social needs of communities and individual members; verification of social service providers. Social service providers shall be registered with government inspectorates that accredit their activities and issue social work licenses. Moreover, such verifications regularly (with or without notification) check social service providers. The key evaluation parameters are consistency of services; access to services; the resulting effects from the provision of services (negative or positive); training and competence of social workers; lack of people among social workers who were serving criminal sentences. In Great Britain, since 2008, a rating of the quality of Social services has been published. The maximum number of participants is involved in improving methods for assessing Social services: state authorities, local authorities, users and members of their families, customers of Social services, providers of Social services, social workers, independent experts [3, p. 228].

In England and Scotland the following indicators for assessing Social services are used:

– Improving the health and emotional well-being of people requiring social protection;

– Improving the quality of life (well-being, well-being);

– Positive contribution to social protection (individual, household, group of people, organization, enterprise);

– Selection of Social services and control over their provision;

– Elimination of discrimination in the Social services provision (freedom from discrimination);

– Economic well-being (increased income and decreased expenses, other types of economic benefits for people having social problems );

– Ensuring the protection of personal dignity and respect for human rights when providing services (applies to both service recipients and social workers) [6].

The Production of Welfare (POW) approach is used to evaluate Social services in the UK. According to this approach, the process of providing, consuming and obtaining results from the consumption of such services is distributed, and therefore they are assessed according to the following indicators: input resources (how much, how much they cost, when it is necessary to attract them); incoming components, but not resources (characteristics of the user, social service, social worker; competition between recipients and service providers, etc.); service parameters (availability, features, delivery schedules, etc.); final results (short- and long-term results for the recipient, the provider of services, as well as other subjects of the system for the Social services provision) [7, p. 568].

Also in the UK, when assessing social services, the experience of the European Union and the UN in implementing the Performance and Accountability Framework (PAF) is taken into account, and other assessment methods are used.

The Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) are at the stage of reforming their system of providing Social services according to European Union standards, in which the key characteristics of services are quality and cost. The assessment of Social services is based on methodologies proposed by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFF) and the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). The main parameters of this methodology are as follows: leadership; staff; partnership; complexity; results orientation and continuous improvement; defining and implementing the vision, mission and values of the social service; long-term definition of quality goals; customer reviews; attraction of personnel and their competence; protection of fundamental rights and freedoms of service recipients; ensuring the beneficiary’s right to self-determination; respect for ethics; providing support, expanding user capabilities; performance assessment [8, p. 167].

In addition to the national practice of assessing Social services, several common methods are used in the European Union. EU member countries can use the proposed methods without making changes or supplementing them in accordance with the peculiarities of the development of their own systems for the Social services provision.

In 1992, the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFF) developed the Social services Quality Assessment Model (EFQM). This model is focused on assessing the quality of Social services provision by Social services and contains the following indicators: organization of work and management in the social service; identifying and meeting consumer needs; quick response to changing consumer needs; building a dialogue with consumers; organizational effectiveness; the work of individual workers and personnel as a whole; the organization’s potential and its implementation; quality culture in the organization The model is based on a combination of external audits and self-assessment and is aimed at improving the functioning of Social services, as well as the quality of Social services [9].

In EU member countries, the public service organization assessment model (BVM) is also used. The given model is aimed specifically at assessing the activities of state institutions, which include some Social services. The model has the following limitations: assessment of government institutions only; focus on assessing the work of Social services without taking into account the assessment of service to consumers of Social services.

The main areas of application of the BVM model:

1) Identification and study of the unique characteristics of government institutions, including Social services;

2) Searching for ways to improve the performance of state institutions, taking into account the peculiarities of the functioning of state-owned organizations;

3) Combination of different approaches to quality management in order to obtain better results;

4) Comparison of public sector organizations with private organizations or enterprises, including in the social sphere. The main groups of parameters to be assessed are input resources and flows, including costs; process and change management; key results of the work. The BVM model can be used both by regulatory authorities (assessment and monitoring of the activities of Social services) and directly by Social services (self-assessment) [10, p. 5-7].

In the European Union, the SERVQUAL methodology, developed in 1990 by V. Zeithaml, A. Parasuraman and L. Berry to assess production quality, is also used to evaluate Social services. Subsequently, business entities began to implement SERVQUAL in assessing the quality of services provided to clients.

The methodology is based on active interaction with consumers of services, which makes it possible to establish the level of quality of service provision by examining the satisfaction of their hopes for the consumption of the relevant service provided by a specific organization/enterprise. Assessments are made according to five parameters: perceptibility; reliability; responsibility; confidence; sensitivity. The limitations in using the SERVQUAL methodology to evaluate Social services are its emphasis only on quality; subjectivity through interaction with consumers; large volumes of information processing; the need to adapt to the conditions of the social sphere.

The most common methodology for assessing Social services in the European Union is the methodology developed by the Europethe quality Reference System (EQUASS). It is based on ensuring the ten leading principles of social work adopted in the EU: leadership, people, rights, ethics, partnership, participation, people-centred, complexity, results-oriented, continuous improvement. The main evaluation criteria in the methodology are: identification of key needs and expectations of users/consumers of Social services; processes for managing the development and Social services provision, as well as directly Social services (institutions, organizations, enterprises); responsibility management both at the level of Social services (institutions, organizations, enterprises) and individual workers (social workers); resource management, including financial; construction and implementation of processes and systems for measuring and analyzing data; level and quality of meeting the needs of users/consumers of Social services; system for continuous improvement of the quality of Social services.

The key limitation of the methodology is its focus on the quality of Social services provision. Social services (institutions, organizations, enterprises) can, based on the results of the verification according to the methodology, receive a certificate of conformity [11].

In the European Union, the evaluation of Social services uses the Performance and Accountability Framework (PAF), developed by the UN (The Central Emergency Response Fund, CERF). CERF mechanism is carried out to ensure more timely and reliable provision of humanitarian assistance to victims of natural disasters and armed conflicts. PAF aims to assess: timeliness of care; organization of assistance; use of the financial and other resources; efficiency and effectiveness of care delivery; level of satisfaction of beneficiaries; absence of abuse in the provision of assistance and targeted use of provided resources.

The mechanism of efficiency and accountability makes it possible to build a transparent system for providing assistance (Social services) and formulate clear evaluation criteria without increasing bureaucratic procedures and the time required to provide assistance (Social services).

In Ukraine, there is a process of reforming the system of providing social services, which contributes to the emergence of different approaches to the assessment of such services, including within the framework of assessing the impact on the socialization of global and national economies. The assessment of social services is based on regulatory documents, the fundamental of which are the Methodological Recommendations for Monitoring and Evaluating the Quality of Social Services (12/27/2013).

The state methodology is designed to provide the quality assessment of social services provided by state and municipal social services, as well as other institutions (commercial and non-profit) that use budget funds.

The main assessment parameters are as follows: targeting and individual approach; effectiveness of service delivery; timeliness of social protection; availability; transparency of service provision; convenience for consumers of services; respect for persons in need of social protection; professionalism of social service employees.

Authorities monitoring the process of providing social services are recommended to use the following assessment methods: survey (questionnaire); monitoring the provision of social services; conversation with social workers; research of documentation, including complaints from users of social services.

The assessment is carried out on the basis of assigning points and using evaluation criteria for each of the parameters (“Good”, “Satisfactory”, “Unsatisfactory”) as a percentage of the basic value of the parameters. The assessment is proposed to be carried out by local authorities (with the participation of service users and members of the public) and directly by social service providers (self-assessment) [12].

Critically examining the Methodological Recommendations for monitoring and assessing the quality of social services, a number of shortcomings in the proposed methodology were identified. There is no mandatory assessment of social services that provide social services without using public funds; insignificant participation of service recipients in the assessment procedure; emphasis only on the quality of service provision; lack of economic component of the assessment; performance indicators are not disclosed, including at the level of the national and global economic system.

Considering the complexity of the process of reforming the social protection system and the provision of social services in Ukraine, we note the presence of alternative methods for assessing social services, even those developed with the help of international organizations and foreign institutions.

With the help of the European Commission and the U LEAD program in Ukraine, Methodological recommendations for planning and organizing the provision of social services were developed and proposed at the level of local communities, an important element of which is the methodology for assessing the provision of social services.

It was proposed to calculate the aggregate index of provision of social services to the population.

This contains the following indices (groups of parameters): provision of social services to children and families with children (13 assessment indicators); provision of alternative care services for orphans and children deprived of parental care (7 assessment indicators); provision of social services to older people (5 assessment indicators); provision of social services to persons with disabilities (7 assessment indicators); provision of adaptation and integration (reintegration) services (7 assessment indicators); environmental safety and provision of services to victims of violence (7 assessment indicators). The score is set from 0 (worst level) to 100 (best level) points. The share of parameters (indicators) and indices in the Aggregated Index is the same.

When examining the approach to assessing Social services proposed by the group of developers of the U LEAD program in Ukraine, one should point out its shortcomings:

• Insufficient attention is paid to the quality of service provision;
• Lack of deep disclosure of the economic aspects of the Social services provision;
• Influence of Social services on the socialization of the national and Global economy is not taken into account;
• Issue of assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of the Social services provision needs to be improved;
• Inadequate participation in the assessment of service users.

Conclusions. Analysis of approaches, indicators and criteria for determining the impact of Social services on the Global economy socialization revealed the need to improve existing methodological approaches with the need to shift emphasis to assessing the economic component and effects of the Social services provision both at the level of the Global economy and national economic systems.

Among the peculiarities of the quality assessment of the Social services provision in the European Union, the following should be highlighted:

– Development of the same fundamental rules for the provision and assessment of Social services;

– Emphasis on accreditation and licensing of social work and social workers, both state-owned and those working for private companies;

– Involvement in the assessment of quality standards, in particular from business activities;

– Variety of approaches, indicators and criteria for evaluation of Social services;

– Division of assessment by types of Social services (Social services for the elderly, homeless women, children, etc.);

– Constant improvement of the methodology and expansion of evaluation criteria with the emphasis on determining the quality and efficiency of the Social services provision;

– Critically insufficient attention to the assessment of the interaction of the system of providing Social services with economic systems and the impact of Social services on the socialization of the economy.

The study of methodological approaches to assessing Social services in Ukraine revealed a number of challenges both in the national methodology, established by law, and in alternative methods developed with the assistance of international and foreign institutions, in particular the European Commission. Ukraine needs to improve methodological approaches to the assessment of Social services, where special attention should be paid to establishing their impact on the socialization and resilience of global and National economies.

 

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