Seven new Flash Reports prepared by the European Social Policy Network (ESPN) are now available and provide information on recent social policy developments in Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Slovenia, Spain and the UK.

• Since 2002, the Croatian pension system has consisted of three pillars.  However, every few years there is a recurring policy debate questioning the need for the second pension pillar, which is a mandatory, fully funded and defined contribution scheme. The Government recently proposed amendments to the second pillar, suggesting it is committed to keeping it, even in the face of costs, adequacy concerns and financial market risks. 
• To keep more pensioners economically active and fill shortages in the labour market, a special type of cooperative, the “pensioner cooperative” (nyugdíjas szövetkezet), was introduced in Hungary in July 2017. Members can receive both income from work and old-age pension benefits, and benefit from preferential taxation.
• In a context of a high proportion of people living in jobless households, among the highest in the European Union (especially for children living in these households), Ireland introduced a multifaceted plan to address joblessness among households in September 2017.
• The Polish government is taking steps to increase public healthcare expenditure by 2024, guaranteeing minimum wages in the healthcare sector by 2021 and improving hospital care financing. As requested by physicians’ trade unions, wages in the healthcare sector will be increased and working conditions improved. 
• In Slovenia, social partners have agreed on the key objectives for reforming the pension and disability insurance system. The plan is to have legislation adopted by 2020, but finding the right solutions will be challenging.
• In October 2017, the Spanish government updated the regulation on the social protection of households experiencing energy poverty to alleviate material deprivation and the costs associated with housing. The regulation includes a new definition of the ‘vulnerable consumer’, new eligibility conditions for the reduced electricity rate and a new way of financing the measure.
• Free school meals are a key element of the benefit package in the UK for households with children. Eligibility after aged 8 is based on receipt of a means-tested benefit. With these benefits being replaced by Universal Credit it was hoped that more children would be eligible. But the government is being criticised for announcing a new earnings threshold which will reduce the numbers benefiting and create a new poverty trap.