These guidelines are intended to cover all the key components of a contribution collection and compliance system. Some are necessarily general, such as those covering the mission, strategy, communication, etc., and could be applied to other social security contexts. But others are quite specific to contribution collection and compliance:

• A registration process. This should be comprehensive and include all contributors who are liable to pay contributions, and other parties, such as employers, who are involved in the collection process, along with banks and non-bank financial institutions;
• A process for determining the liability of insured persons and their employers, and what contributions are due;
• A validation process to ensure the correctness of the contributions paid;
• A process to collect these contributions;
• A process for recording contributions paid by a contributor over their lifetime, which can then be used by the benefit-paying authority to determine the amount of social security benefit due. If this process is not robust, and contributions are not accurately reflected on contributors’ individual records, confidence in the overall social security system will be undermined;
• A risk-based approach for monitoring compliance and controlling fraud within these processes. This should include units to detect fraud and inspect records to ensure contributors and employers are meeting their obligations;
• A debt management process for pursuing contributions where liabilities have not been met;
• An enforcement process including law courts for collecting contributions due where the contributor or employer refuses to pay;
• A set of operational processes which connects all these key elements and specifies the information flows between the different parts of the organization(s) involved.

In developing these specific components, institutions need to consider the relative responsibilities of the institution and the citizen within the context of the country’s overall social security system. For example, how far will the institution go to trace contributions paid which are not on a contributor’s account, and what are that contributor’s personal responsibilities for maintaining their records accurately?

The guidelines also address issues that are not exclusive, but are highly important, to contribution collection and compliance functions, such as the clear definition of the institution’s mission and mandates, the application of strategic planning and permanent improvement practices, collaborating with other organizations, and development of a culture of social security.