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Private- School Teachers’ Welfare Fund PSTWF
This fund was established in 1975 as a welfare measure for teachers in the private sector who were generally less well paid and had worse conditions of service than their
counterparts in the public school system. Teachers contribute a maximum of 3 per cent of their salary and employers must contribute the same. The Government doubles the
contribution of the teacher. Beneficiaries of the PSTWF are entitled to free health care, child allowances, the payment of school fees, invalidity and death benefits and old-age
benefits.
Under the new Private School Act, PSTWF members can also borrow money from the Fund. The Fund had 150,000 members in 2006.
10.2.2. Non-contributory social programmes
Pensions There is no universal pension scheme in Thailand. Only government officials and state-
enterprise employees are entitled to non-contributory social pensions financed by budgetary allocations. These employees can choose between receiving a lump sum
payment or a pension on condition that: a they have reached the retirement age of 60; b they have been working for the public sector for at least 25 years; and c they wish to
terminate their employment. In 1996 the pension scheme reform introduced several changes. First, any public employee recruited after March 1996 must be affiliated to the
GPF. Employees working with the Government before that date had the option to switch to the GPF or to continue under the previous system. If the latter, then the formula for
calculating the pension is changed to include the average of the last 60 months salary instead of the last salary received. The pension is capped at 70 per cent of the average of
the last 60 months salary.
In 2007 a total of 333,143 persons received a non-contributory pension from the Government; 9,277 received a lump-sum payment. The cost of these payments amounted
to 20 per cent of the total government payroll for that year. Government expenditure on pensions increased by over 20 per cent per year during the first years following the 1996
reform, but by 2007 the annual increment had declined to 5 per cent.
Non-contributory health care – the Civil Servant Medical Benefit Scheme CSMBS
The CSMBS provides medical benefits to government officials and their dependents. It is usually described as the most generous scheme in Thailand ILO, 2008a. Persons
affiliated to the scheme are entitled to outpatient and inpatient medical services without limit, if received in public hospitals. Between 2006 and 2008 the total number of registered
beneficiaries grew from 4.1 to 4.3 million persons, covering 6.4 per cent of the Thai population. However, the fiscal cost has been high in the last two decades, during which
expenditure under the programme increased from 37 to 54.9 million baht, i.e. by 40.7 per cent in nominal terms. On average, the cost per beneficiary under the CSMBS was 5.3
times higher than in the Social Security Fund and 7.9 times higher than under the Universal Coverage Scheme figure 80.
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Figure 80. Thailand: Cost per beneficiary in selected social protection programmes, 2006-2008
Source: Authors estimates based on Chandoevwit, 2010.
Social assistance programmes Thailand has a long tradition of implementing social assistance programmes, one of which
dates back to 1941. Social assistance policies target highly vulnerable groups such as the elderly, people living with HIV and AIDS, children and poor families. Among others, the
services provided to those groups include accommodation, basic needs, counselling, free education and training, and healthcare.
Social assistance programmes comprise both cash and in-kind benefits financed by general taxation. Cash benefits are granted to elderly people, PLHIV and disabled persons. Within
the whole social protection policy, social assistance is the category with the lowest priority if judged by the small budget allocated to the Ministry of Social Development and Human
Security. This limited budget restricts the expansion of the programmes and coverage is consequently low across the board. In 2006, for instance, the beneficiaries of social
assistance were 6,247 children, 1,964 disadvantaged women, 1,390 elderly people, 4,804 disabled people and 8,490 beggars. Coverage was relatively high only among people with
low incomes and very needy families approximately 293,000 beneficiaries.
10.2.3. Expenditure on social protection
Social spending in Thailand accounts for 13 per cent of GDP, up from 9.8 per cent in 2005 figure 81. This upward trend is not just a product of the last decade but has been a
consistent pattern for the last two decades, running parallel with the accelerated economic growth experienced since 1987. Another remarkable aspect of social expenditure in
Thailand is its increasing share in public expenditure. Between 2005 and 2009 a little more than 50 per cent of the public budget was allocated to social services, including health,
social promotion, housing and entertainment, culture and religion.
