is the

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

social security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

institute. Institutionalized in the Constitution of 1967, it is in charge of coordinating, organizing and executing state social welfare and social security services.

History

Uruguay was one of the first countries in Latin America to have a social security system. However, in its origins, it was a set of various retirement funds created between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century: Caja Escolar (1896-1934), Caja Civil (1904-1934, 1948-1967), Caja Military (1911), Public Services Employees Fund (1919), Jockey Club Employees Fund (1923), Bank Employees Fund (1925), Industry and Commerce Fund (1928-1934, 1948-1967), and the Industry, Commerce and Public Services Fund (1934-1948). In 1919 an old age pension law was passed. Finally, the 1967 Constitution institutionalized the ''Banco de Previsión Social'', which unified the most numerous savings banks in number of affiliates: Civil, Industry and Commerce, and Rural. During the civil-military dictatorship, the body was replaced by the General Directorate of Social Security through Institutional Act No. 9, of October 23, 1979. However, the institution would recover its previous name after the approval of Law N° 15,800, of January 17, 1989.

Activities

According to the Law, BPS is responsible for the coordination of the state social welfare services and organisation of social security. It grants services, loans and benefits such as

pensions A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a "defined benefit plan", wher ...

, non-contributive old age allowances, family subsidies, disablity and care allowances, housing allowances,

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...

and sickness insurance. It collects and handle tributes such as the employee and business contributions to the social security system and the National Health Fund (FONASA). It keeps the work history registry and other records of its passive, active and contributing members, such as the active business registry jointly with the General Tax Directorate. It has the responsibility to propose laws relating to social security. It also has the attribution of being consulted regarding any project or initiative relating to social security.

References

External links

Official website
Social security in Uruguay Government-owned companies of Uruguay Welfare in Uruguay {{Uruguay-company-stub