In the Sultanate of Oman, there is no dearth of legislation and measures that not only safeguard the citizens’ rights but also ensure decent living standards. As such the social protection system in the country is established in accordance with the laws that are described as just and equal.
The new draft social protection law, which was referred to the Council of Oman last week, is reflective of the priority of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik for the welfare of Omanis in accordance with the Basic Law of the State and Oman Vision 2040.
Social protection is an important element of Oman’s fiscal policies. The main highlight for 2023 is the money allocated to social security, which rose by 22 per cent since 2017 to RO 946 million.
Based on Royal Decree No 33/2021, the new integrated social protection system as envisaged in the draft law has two parts – retirement systems that must be applied to all employees in the public and private sectors, and the social protection part, which deals with the benefits provided to different segments of the society.
The draft social protection law went through several stages, in which the opinion of a number of specialists, stakeholders, and international houses of experts was sought, in addition to involving specialised local expertise, to design a social protection system that will keep pace with best practices and international standards.
Accordingly, the draft law includes allocating new social benefits for the elderly, children, orphans, and widows, supporting the income of lower-income families, and taking into account elderly retirees.
The proposal also aims to design unified retirement programmes for all sectors in the labor market, whether governmental or private, covering the retirement stage, risks of death, disability, work injuries, occupational diseases, and job security.
In the new system, there will be a remarkable development as a new approach like the pension law.
Previously, there were groups that were not subject to retirement schemes. Now, it has become important to subject them to the retirement system so as to protect them. This will also open new opportunities for young people and encourage them to be self-reliant and opt for entrepreneurship and self-employment.
Employees who have completed 20 years of service registered with pension funds and who have met the conditions for retirement in their current systems on the date of the issuance of the Social Protection Law are granted without adhering to the minimum voluntary retirement upon completing 30 years of service.
If the new social protection system is able to unify the retirement pension for all the groups, it is possible that youths of such sectors will not wait for job opportunities in the government sector only.
The draft law also aims to establish a central administration and a unified community database to provide cash benefit programmes and social insurance programmes, making them easily accessible to the target groups, with clear entitlement terms and unified provisions, in addition to ensuring that the social protection system is able to accommodate economic and social changes.
The insurance programme covers the insured in cases of termination of service for reasons beyond the control of the insured. It replaces the job security system and was developed to deal with some of the challenges facing the current job security system.
And the “social insurance for maternity leave”, is a new insurance programme, taking into account the period of childbirth, and aims to cover the income of working women during the period of childbirth under a symbiotic social insurance system to enhance social protection for the family.
The "Social Insurance for Sick Leaves and Unusual Leaves" modifies job entitlement from sick leave and unusual leave to an insurance benefit to protect the insured, and transfer the cost from the employer to the social protection system.
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