A computerized interface between the Portuguese Public Employment Service (IEFP) and the Social Security’s (SS) relevant subsystems has been implemented under a cooperation protocol signed between both institutions, aiming to gain a greater control of the unemployment benefits provision and the simplification of the claim filing process. With this integration, all information related to the status of unemployment benefits is automatically integrated in a common system. Job Centres need only to register the occurrences that can lead to the alteration of that situation, being SS’s responsibility to effect those alterations and communicate, through the interface, the new status of unemployment benefits.The system also provides the possibility to send the corresponding claims via webservices.

Policy Context

Unemployment protection is one of the cornerstones of social protection systems. The need to keep employment rates high and structural unemployment rates low, within the framework of the objectives defined in the Lisbon Strategy and consequently of the National Action Programme for Growth and Employment, under which the National Employment Plan falls, requires an increased effort for the rapid action of workers who are temporarily unemployed. Therefore, within the scope of the recent revision of the legal regime governing unemployment protection (Decree-Law no. 220/2006, of 3 November), mechanisms were set up to provide greater facility, flexibility and commodity to beneficiaries, making it possible for the applications for unemployment benefits and the respective probationary documents to be handed in at the Job Centres or submitted via the Internet (legal changes have been made in order to fully implement this later procedure). The setting up of interfaces for the sharing of information between public bodies with shared responsibilities in a certain area of action – in this case the management and control of the process of granting unemployment benefit, involving the Employment and Vocational Training Institute, which is responsible for implementing employment and vocational training policies defined and approved by the Government, and the Social Security – falls under the wider objective of eliminating paper/dematerialisation, through the promotion of the integration of information and communication technologies, as recommended in the Simplex Programme 2006, a national instrument for legislative and administrative simplification, reflecting the underlying principles of electronic government: to provide quality integrated public services focussed on the client with efficiency gains, transparency and rationalisation of costs.

Description of target users and groups

1) All employers where required to acquire, fill in and hand to the former employee an unemployment form; 2) Citizens submitting unemployment forms can do so in only one Institution, the Job Centers. The system is used by 86 Unemployment Centers (with approximately 1200 users) and in about 600 Social Security services (with approximately 10.500 users)

Description of the way to implement the initiative

The solution developed involves methods of interaction among several services. With regard to the submission of an application for unemployment benefits, interaction is in real time (online) through the use of several webservices. This interaction allows the IEFP to obtain information straight away that the request was duly accepted by the Social Security services. The process number and district Social Security Centre responsible for processing the application is also provided immediately. The citizen’s request is presented immediately to the correct Social Security Centre allowing for immediate decision. Any unconformities of the process are also communicated immediately. The transaction of the information on the various actions that occur after the submission of the application (rejections, grants, suspensions, restarts, terminations) takes place offline using databases (staging area). The transactions are placed in the staging area and the information is integrated in the respective systems – IEFP and Social Security – at the end of each day. The solution implemented in terms of the exchange of information using webservices and databases (staging area) will be used in another project related to the social integration income, as well as in other areas that involve cooperation between the IEFP and the Social Security.

Main results, benefits and impacts

- Daily update of databases of both institutions; - Automatic integration of information, therefore without human intervention, preventing human error; - Elimination of administrative work necessary in order to exchange information between the institutions ; - Simplification and rationalisation of procedures; - Reduction of operational costs; - Reinforcement of the mechanisms to avoid fraud and contributory and instalments evasion due to continuous information exchange;; - Speeding up of decision process regarding the unemployment benefits; - No need for physical storage of documentation in consequence of the dematerialization process. The utilization of the Internet channel with citizens and employers allowed the elimination of administrative work necessary in order to register unemployment statement.

Return on investment

Return on investment: Not applicable / Not available

Track record of sharing

The results obtained in this case are influencing communications between both institutions concerning systems other than the unemployment benefits supporting system. Right now, the communications regarding the Social Integration Benefits and Contributions Validation are being altered using the same approach used in this case. Meanwhile, in the Social Security, the webservice platform was used in order to exchange information between the Contribution Subsystem and the Institution for finance (DGITA). The utilization of webservices was additionally extended to the Social Security website for utilizations by citizens and companies. The well founded results obtained by this case influenced the Portuguese Government to include in the Simplex Programme 2007, national instrument for legislative and administrative simplification, reflecting the underlying principles of electronic government: to provide quality integrated public services focussed on the citizen with efficiency gains, transparency and rationalisation of costs, the dematerialization of yet another social benefit, Motherhood benefit. In the year 2007, similar mechanisms as used in the unemployment benefits supporting system are to be created for the motherhood benefits in order to allow citizens to request those benefits through the Internet, following the Riga Declaration’s ideas. In terms of sharing good practices, both institutions candidated themselves towards the “Prémio de Boas Práticas da Administração Pública”, instrument used in Portugal to share and demonstrate good practices in the public service. The case allows the team to be highly motivated in demonstrating and helping other organizations, in Portugal or the EU which want to follow the methodology used in this case.

Lessons learnt

The setting up of mechanisms that anticipate the interaction between two institutions with the size of the IEFP and the Social Security is a delicate task and requires gathering data on requirements, analysis, development, implementation and extremely careful monitoring. The two bodies have quite distinct cultures, thereby implying the need to adapt a solution that can be adjusted to both realities. In this context, the main lessons that can be learned from this project are: Lesson 1 -The need to safeguard issues related to the institutional culture in future projects; Lesson 2 - To include representatives from final users in the project, whenever possible; Lesson 3 -To set up mixed groups with users from both bodies.

Scope: National