Social security

The Slovenian state ensures the functioning of social care institutes and works towards preventing social exclusion.


The state works towards preventing social exclusion, particularly by influencing the social position of the population in the areas of taxation, employment and work, and through grants, housing policy, family policy, health care, education and other policy areas.

Social security in Slovenia is based on contributions paid by all employed and self-employed persons into the social security scheme.

Your employer is required to register you in the central register of insured persons within eight days of the employment contract being signed. A self-employed person submits his registration for insurance himself as a person liable to pay contributions when he commences performance of his activity. The central register of persons liable to pay contributions and insured persons is kept for all types of insurance in the social security system by the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia.

 

employer

employee

Pension and disability insurance

8.85%

15.50%

Compulsory health insurance

6.56%

6.36%

Maternity insurance

0.10%

0.10%

Unemployment insurance

0.06%

0.14%

Accident at work and occupational

 

 

disease insurance

0.53%

/

Total

16,10%

22,10 %

Unemployment insurance

Employees in an employment relationship are compulsorily insured against unemployment. Independent sole traders, self-employed persons and, in some cases, persons that own companies may also voluntarily insure themselves against unemployment, as may Slovenian citizens who are in an employment relationship with an employer in a foreign country, and the spouses of these citizens.

The entitlements arising from unemployment insurance are as follows:

  • a financial benefit;
  • the reimbursement of travel and removal costs;
  • the right to compulsory health insurance and the right to pension and disability insurance during the period of entitlement to financial benefit.

You may exercise an entitlement to financial benefit if you were insured against unemployment before it occurred, if the reason your employment was terminated was not your choice or your fault, and if no suitable employment is available. You retain that right if you are actively seeking employment and are available for work, and if you fulfil certain other obligations. Your entitlement to financial benefit is suspended if you conclude a fixed-term employment contract for less than 12 months, if you join an education programme through the Employment Service of Slovenia, if you begin to receive a parental financial benefit, if you become part of a public works programme, or for other reasons laid down in law. However, if you move to another Member State of the European Union, you have, under certain conditions, the right to be paid benefit while you are seeking work there.

You may exercise an entitlement to financial benefit if you have been employed previously by one or more employers for a minimum of 12 months in the last 18 months.

If, as an unemployed person, you have performed seasonal work on a fixed-term employment contract, you are entitled to financial benefit if, after the hours have been converted into full-time working days, you have a minimum insurance period of 12 months in the 18 months prior to unemployment.

The base for assessing financial benefit is the average monthly pay which you received in the 12 months prior to unemployment; it amounts to 70 % of the base for the first three months it is received, and 60 % in subsequent months. The highest and lowest amounts of financial benefit are also set.

The length of receipt of financial benefit depends on the insurance period completed prior to receipt:

  • 3 months for insurance of 1 to 5 years
  • 6 months for insurance of 5 to 15 years
  • 9 months for insurance of 15 to 25 years
  • 12 months for insurance over 25 years
  • 18 months for an insured person over the age of 50 with an insurance period of 25 years
  • 24 months for an insured person over the age of 55 with an insurance period of over 25 years.

Financial benefit accrues to you on the day after termination of compulsory insurance and up until the expiry of entitlement or deregistration from the record of unemployed persons, if you submit to the Employment Service an application to be granted entitlement within 30 days of termination of compulsory insurance.

Recipients of financial benefit receive health, pension and disability insurance for the duration of receipt of the benefit.

Health insurance

There are two forms of health insurance in Slovenia: compulsory and voluntary. Compulsory health insurance is provided by the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia. All employed and self-employed persons and all retired persons who receive a pension from a Slovenian insurance provider are insured under the health insurance scheme. The status of insured person can also be obtained by the family members of the insured person if they do not have the possibility of entering the scheme on another basis.

Where they have compulsory insurance, insured persons can be granted full or partial payment for health services, depending on the service concerned. Compulsory health insurance includes sickness insurance, insurance against diseases and injuries outside work, and insurance against injuries at work and occupational diseases.

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Allowance for period of sickness

If you fall ill, your employer will pay you an allowance for your absence from work from its own funds for the first 30 days. You must present your employer with a sick note obtained from your general practitioner.

After the first 30 days the Health Insurance Institute  pays the allowance, after obtaining the opinion of the general practitioner or the competent health committee at the Health Insurance Institute. The base for calculating the level of the allowance is the average monthly pay or the average base for the payment of contributions in the calendar year preceding the year in which the temporary inability to work arose.

The Health Insurance Institute pays an allowance for absence from work from the first day of absence from work on the grounds of transplantation of live tissue or organs for the benefit of another person, the effects of donating blood, care for a close family member, isolation and the requirement to accompany a patient as ordered by a doctor, and injuries sustained in certain circumstances.

The base for calculating the allowance is the average monthly pay for full-time work in the preceding year.

The allowance amounts to:

    * 100% of the base in the case of an inability to work on the grounds of occupational disease, injury at work, transplantation of live tissue or organs for the benefit of another person, the effects of donating blood, and isolation ordered by a doctor;

    * 90% of the base in the case of inability to work on the grounds of illness;

    * 80% of the base in the case of inability to work on the grounds of injury outside work, care for a close family member, the requirement to accompany a patient as ordered by a doctor, and training for the rehabilitation of a child.

You may decide yourself whether to take out voluntary health insurance, which gives you additional entitlements. The majority of the population is included in a voluntary health insurance scheme. However, it is advisable to insure yourself for the difference in the full value of health services that are not covered in full by the compulsory health insurance scheme. Voluntary health insurance is provided by insurance companies.

Family and maternity benefits

The family benefits you can claim at a social services centre are: parental allowance, assistance on the birth of a child, child benefit, large family allowance, childcare allowance and partial payment for loss of earnings.

Maternity leave lasts a total of 105 days. A pregnant woman commences maternity leave 28 days before her due date. During this period she receives a maternity allowance. The level of the allowance is determined using the average pay received by her over the preceding 12 months.

A father has the right to paternity leave of 90 days. The first 15 days must be used by the time the child has reached the end of its sixth month; the remainder may be used in the form of full leave until the child has reached three years of age. The level of paternity allowance for the 15 days which a father takes when the child is born amounts to 100 % of the father’s average pay. The father receives no allowance for the remaining 75 days, although his social security contributions, amounting to the minimum wage, are paid for the duration of paternity leave.

One of the parents has a right to leave in order to look after or care for a child for a period of 260 days immediately upon expiry of maternity leave. The level of childcare allowance is determined on the basis of the average pay which the beneficiary received in the preceding 12 months. However, the allowance may not exceed two-and-a-half times the gross average pay.

Child allowance provides the parents or child with an additional benefit for maintenance, upbringing and education; the level of this allowance is determined with reference to income per family member. It is an additional benefit for the maintenance, upbringing and education of a child in cases where the income per family member does not exceed 99 % of the average wage in Slovenia in the preceding calendar year. The level of the child allowance is set according to the classification of the family within a particular earnings category, taking into account the average monthly income per family member in the preceding calendar year.

Entitlement to a child allowance may be claimed at any time at the social security department with territorial jurisdiction in relation to the child’s place of habitual residence. Entitlement to a child allowance is granted for a period of one year.

Other family allowances include parental allowance, the childbirth grant, the large-family grant, childcare allowance and partial payment for loss of earnings.

Pensions

Pension and disability insurance is compulsory in Slovenia and is uniform for all insured persons. Everyone who pays a monthly contribution to pension and disability insurance from their pay is regarded as a compulsorily insured person. If you wish to provide yourself with additional social security in retirement, you may take out additional insurance with an authorised pensions provider, mutual pension fund or insurance company. You may also be insured individually or collectively through your employer.

Old-age pension

Old-age insurance is governed in Slovenia by Pension and Disability Insurance Act . An insured person is a person included, on a compulsory or voluntary basis, in the pension and disability insurance scheme.

The minimum requirements for entitlement to an old-age pension are:

    * age 58 (men and women) and the completion of a pension period of 40 years (men) and 38 years (women);

    * a pension period of 20 years (men and women) and age 63 (men) or 61 (women);

    * a pension period of 15 years (men and women) and age 65 (men) or 63 (women).

Minimum requirements for entitlement to an old-age pension in 2009 for women is age 56 years and 4 months and a completed pension period of 37 years.

In the transitional period there has been a gradual increase in age and pension period requirements for women only.

You will receive a full pension if you meet both conditions – completion of the pension period and attainment of the full retirement age.