Kazakhstan has initiated a systemic adjustment to the procedure for financing citizens who are on full state provision. The proposed changes are targeted but fundamentally important in nature: they are aimed at eliminating the duplication of budget expenditures and improving the efficiency of the use of state funds while unconditionally preserving the entire spectrum of social guarantees established by current legislation.

The existing model assumes that citizens residing in state residential centers for the provision of special social services are on full state provision. In this case, budget funds cover the full range of their needs – accommodation, food, provision of clothing, social services, medical care, and qualified care in the volumes strictly regulated by normative acts. A similar provision mechanism also applies to persons held in institutions of the penal correctional system.

The current mechanism for distributing pension payments and state social benefits assumes their division in a 30 to 70 proportion. Thirty percent of the amount is transferred directly to the citizen and remains at his or her personal disposal, while seventy percent goes to a special account of the center. These funds have traditionally been directed toward covering additional expenses related to servicing recipients of social services. In particular, for additional food, the purchase of soft inventory, and other needs provided for by legislation.

However, upon detailed analysis, a significant nuance emerges: the key expenses for the maintenance of citizens on full state provision are already fully covered by the state budget. In effect, a situation arises in which the same expenditure items are financed twice – both from budget funds and from redistributed pension payments and benefits. It is precisely this contradiction that the proposed changes are intended to eliminate.

In this connection, a revision has been initiated of the procedure for using seventy percent of pension payments and social benefits in order to exclude the repeated financing of the same expenditure items. It is fundamentally important that, at the same time, the volume of funds at the personal disposal of citizens remains absolutely unchanged. As before, thirty percent of the corresponding pension payment or state social benefit will be issued to the recipient to cover personal needs.

It is proposed that the remaining seventy percent not be directed toward the repeated coverage of expenses that the state already provides within the framework of full state provision. The budget resources thus released may be redirected to the implementation of socially significant projects, the development of the social protection system of the population, and the improvement of the quality of social services provided, which will ultimately increase the overall effectiveness of state social policy.

Particular attention on the part of the developers of the reform is focused on the unconditional preservation of social guarantees. The proposed changes in no way presuppose a reduction in the volume of state provision for citizens. Accommodation, food, care, medical assistance, and other social services guaranteed by legislation will continue to be provided by the state in full and in the established procedure. The new procedure is planned to be applied exclusively during the period in which a citizen is on full state provision.

Equally important is the mechanism for restoring full payments. After the termination of residence in a center for the provision of special social services or upon release from an institution of the penal correctional system, the payment of an old-age pension, a long-service pension, or a state social benefit is automatically resumed in full. Thus, a citizen bears no financial losses either during the period of being on state provision or after its termination.

Summing up, it can be stated that the share of funds at the personal disposal of citizens remains at the previous level – thirty percent of the corresponding payment. The main innovation concerns exclusively the procedure for using the remaining seventy percent and is aimed at eliminating the duplication of expenses, improving the efficiency of the use of state funds, and unconditionally preserving the social guarantees of citizens. The reform is balanced in nature and meets the principles of rational management of budget resources.

Prepared by Rishat MAKHSUDOV