The head of the communication unit is part of the senior management team to ensure that appropriate communication support is provided to all plans, actions and decisions of the institution.

The ISSA Guidelines for Social Security Administration were prepared by the ISSA General Secretariat with the ISSA technical commissions.

The institution specifies a model connecting the main operational processes involved in contribution collection and compliance and including the information flow between processes.

The institution implements public awareness campaigns on its anti-fraud policies, based on risk profiles, to reduce evasion and fraud and increase confidence in the system.

The aim of such campaigns is to inform public opinion on the meaning and social impact of contribution evasion and fraud, and on measures to counter fraud.

The selection process ensures the suitability and competence of the members of the board. The term of office of a board member and the basis for its renewal (if renewable) are clear and well defined.

Decisions of the board are applied consistently.

The accountability of the management is enhanced by internal and external systems of control.

Dynamism is the governance element of innovation or positive change, the effect of which is to henceforth improve the efficiency of an organization.

The board or management establishes the internal audit charter of the internal audit unit. The charter sets out the nature, role, responsibility, status and authority of the unit and outlines the scope of its work.

There are many areas to be addressed in enforcing the prudent person principle in the investment of social security funds. These guidelines are addressed specifically to institutions with external fund managers.

To ensure a competent, dynamic and dedicated workforce, the board establishes policies and programmes that provide for the continual development, upgrading of skills and training of staff.

The institution defines a single, integrated framework for ICT governance that establishes responsibilities and duties at the highest levels.

The framework fosters the application of the ISSA Guidelines on Good Governance and ICT-related principles as defined in international standards.

The institution implements a service desk to provide a single, central point of contact for all users, enabling them to request standard services, and to provide information about services and procedures for obtaining them.

This section of the guidelines provides a high-level reference point for the management of information security and privacy in social security institutions. The eight guidelines which follow form a starting point from which institutions can develop their own policies and plans, and will assist in addressing the challenges of information security through a consistent and standards-based approach. They are also intended to raise awareness of the security risks to information assets and to indicate how to deal with them.

Social security operations and strategic decisions are based on the mission-critical availability of data related to the individuals and stakeholders involved in social programmes managed by institutions. As a consequence, the reliability of these operations and adjudications are based strongly on the reliability of the used data. Among the large volumes of data managed by social security institutions there is a key subset that is common to social programmes, and its quality and management have a strong impact on the overall activities of social security institutions.

The institution carries out ICT operations to enable the use of the master data system in compliance with the corresponding service-level agreements (SLAs).

The institution continuously monitors the availability and performance of the master data systems. Interruptions and malfunctioning of the master data systems should be prevented by setting up alarms that would warn the ICT team of an SLA violation (i.e. event, incident or problem).

The institution implements an authentication model to identify, authenticate and sign digital transactions between institutions participating in the international agreement.

This model replaces the handwritten signatures used in paper-based transactions and enables validation of the authenticity of the data exchanged.

This part of the guidelines considers the principles underlying the structure, mechanism and processes put in place in the investment of reserve funds. These principles should form the initial building blocks of an investment governance process. They set down the investment beliefs and the missions and goals which underlie any investment process. These principles should be regularly reviewed to ensure that the ensuing investment process correctly reflects them and takes them into account, as they underpin the structure and mechanism put in place.

Appropriate benchmarks and investment return targets are selected for use in analysing the performance and risk of the investing institution’s investments, whether managed internally or externally.

Where appropriate and permitted by the board, the investing institution may adopt an investment strategy that reduces its exposure to unwanted currency risk, while noting that, for some investments, potential currency movements may form part of the expected return and/or an extreme risk hedge and, therefore, should not be managed (or “hedged”).

The institution assigns responsibility for conducting a prevention programme to a dedicated prevention department.

The institution guarantees the transfer of prevention information to the operational level of enterprises by using selected media and effective communication and taking into account the different demands of target groups when generating material for their workplaces.

The institution conducts on-site visits among its member enterprises, with clearly defined objectives and including consulting services focused on specific sectors of economic activity.

The institution commits to promoting a nationwide prevention culture and recognizes that the development of a prevention culture is the responsibility of society as a whole.

The impacts and effectiveness of the policies, programmes and services for the return to work and improving sustainable employment are evaluated.