Submission to Select Committee for International Development 9 December 2024
From: Nicola Yeates, Professor of Social Policy, The Open University (Nicola.Yeates@open.ac.uk)
This submission calls for the Committee to investigate how global financing mechanisms for social protection, especially in the poorest countries of the world, could be made more reliable and adequate, whilst securing the ownership of that financing by recipient governments.
Why should the Select Committee focus on this area?
Today, 52.4 per cent of the global population is covered by some form of social protection, up from the 42.8 per cent in 2015. This still leaves 3.8 billion people without any social protection whatsoever. Under-investment in social protection continues to be one of the main reasons for low coverage rates, leaving billions of people – mostly women and children – living in poverty.
ILO evidence shows that financing gaps in social protection are still too large. To ensure at least a social protection floor, low- and middle-income countries require an additional investment of US$ 1.4 trillion or 3.3 per cent of the aggregate GDP (2024) of these countries. This includes 2 per cent of GDP or US$ 833 billion for essential health care and 1.3 per cent of GDP or US$ 552 billion for five core social protection cash benefits (Razavi et al., 2024; Idris, Lambin and Yeates, 2024).
Countries with insufficient fiscal capacities are likely to require temporary international support in building up robust social protection systems that allow them to tackle the challenges ahead. The issue is what that support could look like, how it would be funded and what institutional arrangements can most effectively underpin this support (Yeates et al., 2023).
Why is it the right time for the Committee to examine the area?
The Fourth Financing Development Conference (FFDC) will take place in Spain in the summer of 2025. The Select Committee has a major opportunity to draw lessons from the extensive research undertaken on global financing for social protection in order to feed into the UK government’s overall approach to the pledges it will make at the FFDC. The Committee can feasibly undertake this work in the next six months, and in ways that could be highly beneficial for the work of the government (FCDO, Treasury) and its inputs into the FFDC.
Why would this area benefit from parliamentary scrutiny (that is, the close investigation of Government policies, actions and spending)?
This area would benefit from parliamentary scrutiny for many reasons. First, it is overdue: there has been no government review of the policies, actions and spending in relation to poverty and social protection since the last Labour government, over 15 years ago. Second, as parliamentary scrutiny would be independent of the work of relevant government departments, it would provide a further democratic accountability channel. Third, the action would be timely in global politics and policy: in addition to the FFDC next year, the World Social Summit is also taking place (Qatar).
Why does the Government need to act in this area?
The work of the Committee in this area could contribute to putting the UK (Labour) government back on the footing and respect it once had in the international community for its pioneering work on poverty and social protection. Action in this area would raise the UK government’s profile in international development and enable it to resume its former role as a global leader of some consequence.
How could Government policy in this area be developed or improved?
Squarely addressing the government’s actions on this area would beneficially put into context the track record of the government over the last 15 years and help develop its position in relation to the debates about global financing mechanisms for social protection. Understanding the present context of global financing on social protection and poverty, especially in very poor countries, would update and extend the government’s commitment to the global goal of ensuring no-one is left behind, anywhere (Sustainable Development Goal #1).