Digitalization in the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs: officials manually transcribe, copy and print data; citizens still provide information which are already known
PRESS RELEASE ON AUDIT NO 23/25 – 9 September 2024
Even after ten years, selected key IT projects in the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA) were not yet completed in February this year. Although citizens can communicate electronically with the Czech Social Security Administration (CSSA) and the Labour Office of the Czech Republic when dealing with selected agendas, officials have to handle many operations manually. In turn, citizens must continue to provide the information already available to the state administration. This was found by the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) auditors who examined the state budget funds earmarked for digitalisation in the MoLSA between 2018 and 2023. The ministry spent a total of CZK 3.4 billion on the operation and development of the audited information systems (IS) in those years.
The SAO's findings apply, among other things, to online applications for parental allowance and housing allowance. Although citizens can apply for housing allowance or parental allowance online and attach documents digitally, for housing allowance the official must manually copy the attached documents into another application. When processing applications for parental allowance, they must go to another information system and manually search, check and, if necessary, correct the personal data of the applicants. The reason for this is that the two information systems are not linked.
The processing of the pension agenda in the CSSA is also very complex, fragmented, very demanding in terms of personnel, dependent on hard-copy materials and human labour. This can be documented in the following example: Before the first payment of each old-age pension and widow's and widower's pension, the clerk must first print out a number of data from the information system, including the applicant's birth number and the amount of the pension awarded, and then manually copy these data back into the system. This violation of the 'internally digitally only' principle is the result of the failure to link the various parts of the integrated information system of the CSSA. It places a disproportionate burden on officials in serving clients and reduces the efficiency of the resources spent on digitalisation. Another example shows the lack of speed in processing applications for old-age pensions. The legal deadline for processing an application is 90 days. The CSSA exceeded this deadline for 79% of applications in Q1-3 2023. According to the SAO, the current IS does not allow for efficient digitalisation. In the last five years, the CSSA spent a total of CZK 701.5 million on the operation and development of the existing IS for pension processing.
According to the auditors, the MoLSA also violated the Public Procurement Act when creating the "Jenda" web application, which enables online submission and management of applications for parental allowance, child allowance and housing allowance. The Ministry had the application developed without a tender procedure under a contract to support the operation and development of existing applications; however, the subject of the contract is not the development of new applications. The SAO evaluated the use of CZK 93.5 million for the development of this application as a fact indicating a breach of budgetary discipline.
The auditors also found that the MoLSA manages operationally costly information systems for the state employment policy benefits agenda and the non-insured social benefits agenda. It has been using them since 1993. The new projects, which were supposed to reduce operating costs from CZK 33 million to CZK 3 million per month have not been completed by the MoLSA even after ten years. As a result, it paid up to CZK 650 million more for the operation of the existing information systems compared to the expected lower operating costs of the newly acquired systems. At the same time, the MoLSA spends 80% of the total funds allocated for information technology on the operation of information systems.
According to the auditors, the MoLSA and the CSSA spent a total of CZK 310 million on the unsuccessful replacement of information systems securing allowances and pensions. Since 2014, the MoLSA spent CZK 297 on building a new IS of the state employment policy, which was never put into operation. In the same period, CSSA spent CZK 12.7 million on the preparation of projects that were supposed to lead to the replacement of the pension information system. However, even after ten years, the CSSA has not been able to initiate this replacement.
Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office