Elma Saiz announces the launch of the first scholarships to prepare the oppositions of access to Social Security

The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, has today advanced in Santander an initiative to create the first scholarships aimed at preparing the oppositions to the higher bodies of Social Security. The measure provides for 23 grants, each with 8,400 euros per year, with a total investment of 193,200 euros, to facilitate the preparation of those who wish to join this institution and promote equal opportunities in access to public employment.

During the closing of the course of the Menéndez Pelayo International University (UIMP) “Social Security, a bridge between generations”, the minister has defended that developing a professional career in Social Security should be a real option for anyone with a vocation of public service, based on merit and ability. In addition, he has indicated that today the regulatory bases for the granting of these scholarships have been published in the Official State Gazette.

Social cohesion instrument

Saiz has valued the effort, learning and talent of young people and has recalled one of the most relevant reforms promoted in recent years: incorporating into Social Security those who carry out unpaid training practices. "Since its inception two and a half years ago, more than 2.3 million young people who have done these practices have been on leave for at least one day in Social Security," he said.

In relation to the course that has been closed today, and that has brought together different experts in the field of Social Security, Elma Saiz has indicated that the seminar notes that Social Security is not only “a mechanism of protection against disease, retirement or unemployment, but one of the main instruments of social cohesion that our country has”.

As he said, “Social Security is the clearest expression of a social contract based on intergenerational solidarity, in which each generation contributes to the welfare of the next and receives, in turn, the support of those who preceded it.” And addressing young people, he added that “protecting those who are retired today and offering opportunities to those who start your working life are not incompatible goals; they are two sides of the same public policy.”

It has also claimed the value of the reforms promoted on the basis of the recommendations of the Toledo Pact, aimed at strengthening the equity, sufficiency and sustainability of the public pension system. “A Social Security system is sustainable only if it maintains the trust of those who support it, and that trust necessarily goes through young people,” he said.

Social Security, a model of intergenerational coexistence

The seminar “Social Security, a bridge between generations” has brought together experts and professionals this week to analyze the model of intergenerational coexistence that Social Security represents and the challenges of sustainability of the system.

From legal, economic, political and sociological perspectives, the conference addressed issues such as solidarity between generations, false generational conflict and the role of young people in the future of the system.

Already at its inauguration, the Secretary of State for Social Security and Pensions, Borja Suárez, stressed that the reforms undertaken seek to guarantee the sustainability of the system over the coming decades and strengthen the confidence of young people in a protection that accompanies them from the beginning of their working life. Among the conclusions presented in these days, the positive impact of the reforms undertaken in recent years that are helping to strengthen the solvency of the system stands out.

In this sense, the participants agreed on the need to improve pedagogy to better explain the functioning of Social Security and to dismantle some myths among the younger generations.

Care for the youngest

The analysis of the situation of young people in the labour market has also featured prominently in the seminar. Experts have highlighted the positive effects of the labor reform on the quality of youth employment, with a significant increase in indefinite hiring, a reduction in temporality and a greater presence of children under 30 years of age in activities with greater added value.

The sessions have also served to analyze INTEGRASS, the tool developed by Social Security to project the evolution of spending and evaluate the financial sustainability of the system. Its first conclusions point out that, in view of the data and the measures adopted in recent years, the system is prepared to face the challenges arising from the aging of the population and the retirement of the baby boom generation.