The expenditure for the health and welfare sector in Korea has been radically increasing since 2000 and the Korean government has allocated 27.9 percent of its total budget, 86.4 trillion won, for the sector in 2011. It is the largest amount that has been invested in the field of the health and welfare in Korean history. In this regard, the government has implemented ‘the social welfare delivery system improvement project’ to guarantee efficient spending of the health and welfare expenditure and to enhance citizens’ satisfaction towards health and welfare policies.
This report analyzes ‘the social welfare delivery system improvement project,’ which has been carried out from June 2009, to evaluate its policy outcomes and to suggest ways to mitigate problems of the project. To accommodate the analysis, surveys and interviews of street-level bureaucrats in the social welfare section have been conducted.
Main findings of the evaluation are as follows. Above all, the analysis presents well-marked outcomes in the field of benefit payment and management practice and means-test. However, several problems of the improvement project arose; (i) inefficiency of work responsibilities; (ii) ineffective case management; (iii) inappropriate staffing of front-line officers; and (iv) insufficient utilization of private welfare resources and lack of citizen participation in the welfare policy process.
Based on the evaluation, this report suggests several policy recommendations. Firstly, staff reform of front-line officers is required to enhance citizens’ accessibility toward welfare benefits and to ensure the efficiency of welfare service delivery. Secondly, it is necessary to procure experts in the social welfare sector through an administrative reshuffling by placing general position officers to the health and social welfare sector and giving priority to the social welfare expert recruitment. Lastly, the amendment of Social Security Act and Social Welfare Act is indispensable to carry out social welfare policy performance assessment and to enhance citizen participation in the policy process.
This report analyzes ‘the social welfare delivery system improvement project,’ which has been carried out from June 2009, to evaluate its policy outcomes and to suggest ways to mitigate problems of the project. To accommodate the analysis, surveys and interviews of street-level bureaucrats in the social welfare section have been conducted.
Main findings of the evaluation are as follows. Above all, the analysis presents well-marked outcomes in the field of benefit payment and management practice and means-test. However, several problems of the improvement project arose; (i) inefficiency of work responsibilities; (ii) ineffective case management; (iii) inappropriate staffing of front-line officers; and (iv) insufficient utilization of private welfare resources and lack of citizen participation in the welfare policy process.
Based on the evaluation, this report suggests several policy recommendations. Firstly, staff reform of front-line officers is required to enhance citizens’ accessibility toward welfare benefits and to ensure the efficiency of welfare service delivery. Secondly, it is necessary to procure experts in the social welfare sector through an administrative reshuffling by placing general position officers to the health and social welfare sector and giving priority to the social welfare expert recruitment. Lastly, the amendment of Social Security Act and Social Welfare Act is indispensable to carry out social welfare policy performance assessment and to enhance citizen participation in the policy process.
Namgung Inchul, Lee Chaejeong