Social Security – General Organisation

When you start work in Belgium, you pay contributions to the social security system. It is your employer who must complete the necessary formalities for your affiliation, except for health insurance, for which you must choose a mutual benefit association or register with the auxiliary health insurance fund.

The amount of social security contribution is equal to 13.07% of your gross salary. It is deducted from your salary by your employer.

The traditional social security system consists of three regimes:

1. one for salaried employees, a salaried employee being a person bound to his employer by means of a contract. Some categories of workers are regarded as similar to salaried employees for social security purposes, and conversely some are excluded from the scope of social security.
2. one regime for the self-employed: a self-employed worker is a person engaged in professional activity without being bound by an employment contract. Here, too, certain categories of people are excluded, while others are regarded as similar to self-employed workers.
3. one regime for civil servants, i.e. people working for the public services.

The traditional social security system comprises seven branches:

• retirement and widow’s/widower’s pensions
• unemployment benefit
• occupational accident insurance
• occupational illness insurance
• family benefit
• sickness/invalidity insurance
• annual holidays

Text last edited on: 05/2009

Source: European Union
© European Communities, 1995-2009
Reproduction is authorised.