The Belgium experience: achieving social sector interoperability

This brief summarises key learnings from the dialogue on advancing interoperability in Belgium’s social protection held on April 26, 2022.

You can watch the recordings and download the materials on the event page 

Overview: 

This learning brief explores the Crossroads Bank for Social Security (CBSS) in Belgium, which was created in 1990 to enable effective information management and coordinated service delivery by social security institutions. The Belgian social security system consists of three insurance schemes (workers, self-employed workers and civil servants) that cover seven social risks and four social assistance schemes for those living below the subsistence minimum.

About 3,000 institutions are responsible for social security implementation. Prior to 1990, these schemes had evolved without well-coordinated information systems or service delivery processes. This in turn created huge yet avoidable administrative burden and costs for all parties, leading to poor user satisfaction, inadequate uptake and sub-optimal policymaking.

The CBSS has been instrumental to improving the efficiency, effectiveness and inclusiveness of the Belgian social security system. Institutions do not have to re-enter the same data into their systems over and over again as they now reuse data collected, in accordance with the ‘Once-Only’ principle. Conversely, individuals and companies do not have to provide the same information to different institutions.