The State Secretary of the Labour Ministry, Marián Valentovič, presented three digital priorities designed to make it easier to handle the most common life situations. These are online registration of the unemployed, modernization of the social services system for dependent persons, and digitization of the material-need agenda. The aim is less bureaucracy for both people and officials, and a service you can handle from home.
Unemployment and dependency: less paperwork, more clarity
In the event of job loss and job search, the ministry wants to simplify registration at the labour office so that it can be handled fully online. The system will automatically pull in data the state already has about the citizen, and the registration will also include submitting an application for unemployment benefits. Decisions are to arrive electronically, which saves time, paper and postage and speeds up the entire process. There has been progress in linking up with the Social Insurance Agency, but so far mainly in paper form.
In the dependency agenda, the information system of social services is to be rebuilt into a single source of truth about capacities, providers and services used. On this basis, the state is preparing a reform: a citizen with a state subsidy will be able to choose whether to use it for a residential facility, an outpatient service or care within the family. State institutions, providers and municipalities will have access to the system, which will eliminate many duplications and individual agreements. The ministry wants to showcase the solution in 2025 and deploy it no later than early 2026.
Material need and a single application for the entire ministry
In the area of material need, digitalization will not concern only online forms, but also connecting registers and automating assessments. Citizens should have a benefits calculator at their disposal, while the system will verify data on its own in the population and vehicle registers so that the obligation to bring certificates is eliminated. The ministry counts on the fact that not every applicant will manage everything online, so officials will shift more into advisory and field roles. This will cut bureaucracy at branch offices and save time for direct assistance and guiding people.
The State Secretary’s personal ambition is for citizens to handle services across the entire ministry in a single application, after a one-time registration at any branch. The application would link the Social Insurance Agency and labour offices so that people wouldn’t have to figure out "which 'social office'" they should go to and data transfer would take place automatically. This will reduce pressure at branches, where even with a low unemployment rate hundreds of new registrations arrive each month and hundreds leave, which today generates mostly paperwork. If the steps succeed in a short time, it will be a win for citizens as well as officials.
