The European Commission supports and complements the Member States' policies in the fields of social inclusion and social protection.

The Commission works together with EU countries through the Social Protection Committee  using the Open Method of Co-ordination for social protection and social inclusion (social OMC), which aims to promote social cohesion and equality, through adequate, accessible and financially sustainable social protection systems and social inclusion policies.

Through the Social OMC, the EU provides a framework for national strategy development for social protection and social investments, as well as for coordinating policies between EU countries on issues relating to poverty and social exclusion, health care, long-term care and pensions.

Common indicators

These make it possible to compare best practices and measure progress towards the common objectives. They are divided into four "strands" attached to specific objectives:

• overarching indicators
• social-inclusion indicators
• pensions indicators
• health and long-term care indicators.

Investing in children

Children that grow up in poverty are more likely to suffer from social exclusion and health problems in the future, and also less likely to develop to their full potential later in life. Breaking the cycle of disadvantage in early years and investing in children through a preventative approach allows reducing the risk of poverty and social exclusion. This implies not just providing children with adequate living standards: it also means helping them live up to their full potential through an integrated approach bringing them the best educational and health outcomes.

The Social Investment Package  and the Recommendation "Investing in children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage", recently adopted, stress the importance of early intervention and preventative approaches. They call on EU countries to:

• support parents' access to the labor market and make sure that work 'pays' for them
• improve access to affordable early childhood education and care services
• provide adequate income support such as child and family benefits, which should be redistributive across income groups but avoid inactivity traps and stigmatisation
• step up access to quality services that are essential to children's outcomes – improve access to early childhood education and care including for children under 3, eliminate school segregation, enhance access to health, housing, social services
• support children's participation in extra-curricular activities and in services and decisions affecting children such as social services, education, alternative care.

Social Protection Performance Monitor (SPPM)

The Social Protection Committee has developed a monitoring tool which identifies annual key social trends to watch in the EU. It includes the dashboard of indicators.