Critical Social Policy (15.006.2019) The introduction of Universal Credit, a new social assistance benefit for working age people in the UK, constitutes radical welfare reform and entails a significant intensification and expansion of welfare conditionality. Numerically, women are disproportionately affected by the conditionality regime for main carers of children within Universal Credit.

The European Interoperability Framework (EIF) is part of the Communication (COM(2017)134) from the European Commission adopted on 23 March 2017. The framework gives specific guidance on how to set up interoperable digital public services.

EurActiv  (07.06.2019) Very few patients ask for reimbursements for treatment accessed abroad and the only exchanges of patients’ health data are between two northern member states, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) found in a report released on Tuesday (4 June).

ituc-csi.org (15.05.2019) The paper reviews several of the measures that States have taken with the intention of improving the sustainability of pension systems and evaluates their effectiveness. The paper highlights that many of the measures taken have had negative distributional impacts and have significantly compromised the primary function of pension systems: to provide a secure replacement income for people in old age and prevent their ability to fall into poverty.

Europa (24.05.2019) A new Synthesis Report produced by the European Social Policy Network (ESPN) puts forward several recommendations and calls for more effective policy action at European and national levels to tackle in-work poverty.

The BMJ (24.05.2019 Universal health coverage (UHC) has been identified as a priority for international development by the G20, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations General Assembly. Since it was explicitly incorporated into the sustainable development goals (SDGs) as target 3.8, much effort has been expended on promoting UHC. Here we focus on four areas that, on current trajectories, are unlikely to achieve sufficient progress to meet the target.

This paper addresses five disruptive technologies that are driving massive economic transformation and that will be critical areas for public policy formulation and implementation in the region in the years ahead: cloud computing, blockchain, big data, artificial intelligence and the internet of things.

OECD (29.04.2019) Employment is rising in OECD countries but most jobs continue to be created in relatively low-productivity, low-wage activities, says a new OECD report

Background The OECD countries have recently promoted policies of deinstitutionalisation and community-based carefor the elderly. These policies respond to common cost pressures associated with population aging, and the challenge ofproviding improved care for the elderly. They aim to substitute less costly services for institutional ones, to improve patientsatisfaction and decrease expenses. However, views concerning their success are mixed.

This paper discusses theoretical and practical issues related to long-term care (LTC) services in Latin America. Demand for these services will rise as the region undergoes a swift demographic transition from its currently young population to a rapidly aging one, especially since the region’s aging cohorts are more prone to experience a decline in their functional and physical abilities than elderly people elsewhere in the world.