SS Commission Approves Hiring of Third-Party Service Provider to Conduct Nationwide Survey to Close Coverage Gaps

The Social Security Commission (SSC) approved the hiring of a third-party service provider to conduct a detailed nationwide survey that will help close the Social Security System’s (SSS) coverage gaps, enhance social protection, and improve the social pension system.

The SSC, the governing body of SSS, said that the initiative is designed towards the realization of the pension fund’s vision to provide universal and equitable social protection.

“The project’s purpose is to identify the segment of the population that should benefit from social security protection but are not yet receiving any,” SSS President and Chief Executive Officer and concurrent SSC Vice Chairperson Aurora C. Ignacio said.

“We need to know the socio-demographic profile and the level of vulnerability to life’s contingencies such as economic hardships or disasters of both those covered and not covered by SSS, especially those from the informal sector,” she added.

The survey will generate additional information unique to SSS operations which are not available in other agencies’ databases. Specifically, these are other sources of income under the income class, and socio-demographic characteristics of the untapped workforce in the provincial, city/municipality and barangay levels.

The survey will cover 4,000 respondents nationwide including those from last-mile or isolated communities with little access to government services.

The project is aligned with the goals indicated in the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 and the President’s 10-Point Socio-Economic Agenda to reduce vulnerability of individuals and families, and to improve social protection programs, respectively.