CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS In this report, we have focused on social protection benefits aimed at safeguarding the well-being of persons and families who face income loss or poverty due to unemployment, structural disadvantage, old age, or other situations involving vulnerability. We provided evidence for the very low adequacy of social assistance benefits and the erosion of their generosity relative to the risk-of-poverty monetary threshold and the minimum wage. Furthermore, we have assessed the macroeconomic impact of increasing the value of the benchmark Social Reference Indicator(ISR), arguing that it would have a positive effect on economic growth to the tune of an estimated 0.9% of GDP. However, an increase in the ISR on its own cannot solve the complex issues of regulatory design and administration of the Romanian welfare state. Based on our analysis of the functioning of the social protection system, the following policy recommendations emerge as both imperative and economically feasible: A clear indexation procedure of the ISR should be established in relation to the threshold of monetary poverty and the minimum net wage, and indexations should take place at least annually. The major means-tested income support benefits, namely the guaranteed minimum income, the family allowance for low­income families, and the minimum social pension should be indexed in relation to the ISR, at least annually. The values for GMI should be differentiated based on the housing situation of claimers. Those lacking ownership of their homes or who are de facto homeless should receive either social housing or higher benefits so as to meet their housing needs. Local welfare offices should map out persons and families facing social marginalisation(Law 116/2002) and adopt an integrated approach on providing support, not only cash transfers, but also in-kind benefits and services. To this end, local governments and county-level directorates should increase their capacity to identify and address situations involving social marginalisation by hiring qualified personnel and earmarking adequate budget resources for basic in-kind benefits and services such as social housing, social canteens, child care facilities, job-placement and other services. Outsourcing these services to the private sector(even non­profit organisations) bears the risk of“creaming effects”, i.e. the most difficult and resource-consuming cases are left unaddressed, as the time and effort required is too much for the civil sector to handle. An integrated approach on social assistance for precarious persons and families moving in and out of benefits requires both integrated, complex services at the local level, and a national legislative framework that ensures the continuity of basic collateral provisions such as health insurance, subsidies for housing and heating, etc., for transitional periods. Consequently, there should be a delay of at least three months between the moment one no longer qualifies for the GMI and the point in time when collateral provisions such as health insurance, housing or heating subsidies are discontinued. In a similar manner, a period of accommodation should be provided in the event that someone from a GMI beneficiary family finds employment. We suggest that receipt of GMI should continue for at least one month after persons no longer qualify because they find employment so as to ensure a smooth transition from GMI& precarious work to wage­earner status. Parents who are not entitled to paid child care leave for their children below two years of age(three years in the case of children with disabilities) should receive financial support as parents and carers, so as to protect families with small children against poverty. Penalisation of families who cannot ensure children's regular school attendance should be eliminated. Instead, educational support should be provided via subsidised after-school programmes and by enlarging the network of school mediators in marginalised communities. Access to and the affordability of subsidised child care (creches and kindergartens) should be improved, especially in rural areas, so as to relieve older siblings from the responsibility of taking care of the small ones while their parents are working. The monthly voucher for kindergarten attendance granted to low-income families serves as a fair incentive, but barriers to access educational services need to be removed. Housing-first policies should be integrated within social protection measures, especially in the case of the most vulnerable. Central budget financing should be provided in order to increase the stock of social housing and ensure fair criteria of access for the most vulnerable. The unemployment benefit system should be redesigned by making entitlement conditions more accessible, cancelling the current system of sanctions, and developing active labour market policies that facilitate regional mobility. As OECD (2019) shows in the case of Latvia, a country with similar regional disparities to Romania, active labour market policies that offer support in accepting distant job offers has increased job-related mobility among unemployed persons. 19