Retirement Planning Awards 2024

6 | Wealth & Finance Retirement Planning Awards 2024 Leading Providers of State Pension Information 2024 - Azerbaijan & Excellence Award for Transformative Social Protection & Digital Engagement 2024 State Social Protection Fund of Azerbaijan In the Republic of Azerbaijan, qualified retired citizens have access to social insurance, social protection schemes, and security benefits. The government also supports professionally active individuals (employees, self-employed people, farmers, and civil servants), their family members, and some assimilated groups. SSPF works with the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Azerbaijan by helping citizens to access labour pensions, social benefits, targeted state social allowance, grants, compensations, and much more. After the collapse of the USSR, Azerbaijan experienced several severe social, economic, and political issues. In 2020, SSPF introduced a centralisation policy in an effort to increase citizen satisfaction and wellbeing. The policy strives to streamline business processes in social security and eliminate barriers to legal services. The centralisation policy represents a shared vision and trust by ensuring that services remain efficient and transparent. Through this policy, the State Social Protection Fund of Azerbaijan strives to empower the population and create opportunities for individuals to prosper. “One of the main goals of the centralisation policy is related to the transition to a service model i.e. the Fund has targeted the transition from an ‘administrative entity’ approach to a ‘citizen-servicing’ model. The centralisation policy allows citizens to clarify their information on the basis of their access to social benefits and make the social benefit assignment targeted as well as more efficient and transparent.” Access to social security and social benefits is a fundamental human right and all people have the right to receive clear information on social security entitlements. SSPF supports the population of Azerbaijan to ensure they receive this vital support by determining entitlement, calculating benefits, and arranging payments. Azerbaijan’s social insurance system offers pensions, unemployment benefits, health insurance, and other social benefits. SSPF helps to manage entitlements such as compulsory state social insurance, labour pensions, targeted state social assistance, social insurance, social benefits, grants and compensations, state mandatory personal insurance, and voluntary social insurance. By leveraging digitalisation, the Fund helps people access services electronically from anywhere in Azerbaijan. SSPF works hard to ensure that citizens are treated fairly and can access the benefits they are entitled to. SSPF has developed a clear strategy to overcome challenges citizens face such as obtaining relevant documents and information about social benefits, forged documents and fraud, unfair or inaccurate assignments of social benefits such as pensions and allowances, and more. State Social Protection Fund of Azerbaijan acts as a bridge between government and citizen to ensure the fair and accurate circulation and distribution of social benefits, improve the decision-making process, increase social security satisfaction, and participate in the ISSA Recognition Programme. The International Society Security Association (ISSA) is an international organisation that pursues excellence by bringing together national society security administrations and agencies. The ISSA has created professional guidelines and provides its members with vital support to help them develop forward-thinking social security systems and policy. SSPF strives to meet its social and economic responsibilities and help citizens access the support they need. The latest Report of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Azerbaijan 2022 shares that 802,000 people were able to access social benefits grants. Additionally, citizens were assigned 171,000 pensions, allowances, and grants. The effects of inflation and financial aid saw pensions increase by 11% in 2022. These results show that the population of Azerbaijan are currently benefiting more from the Fund than ever before. As governmental support for SSPF continues to grow, the Fund has been able to offer greater social protection to Azerbaijan citizens. Over the coming year, the State Social Protection Fund of Azerbaijan will continue to provide unparalleled value and enhanced wellbeing to the country’s populace. Since the centralisation policy came into act, SSPF has worked closely with the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic The State Social Protection Fund of Azerbaijan (SSPF) is a governmental agency that operates in the field of compulsory state social insurance and voluntary social insurance. The Fund is an essential part of citizens’ retirement planning, helping them to access social benefits such as pensions and allowances. We take this opportunity to find out more about the State Social Protection Fund of Azerbaijan as it is recognised in this year’s Retirement Planning Awards.

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