http://vitae.ac.uk/researchers/207961/Are-you-a-reseacher-in-the-EU-whos-experienced-social-security-problems.html Feed for Are you a reseacher in the EU who's experienced social security problems? en-gb http://vitae.ac.uk 24-Feb-2010 14:54:01 http://vitae.ac.uk/researchers/207961/Are-you-a-reseacher-in-the-EU-whos-experienced-social-security-problems.html One example is that Eastern Europeans, despite being a part of the EU,are not entitled to any unemployment benefits (and any other hardship-related benefits) if they have not worked in the UK continuously for at least 12 months. For Eastern European researchers on short-term research contracts it often means periods of unemployment without any social security. http://vitae.ac.uk/researchers/207961/Are-you-a-reseacher-in-the-EU-whos-experienced-social-security-problems.html http://vitae.ac.uk/researchers/207961/Are-you-a-reseacher-in-the-EU-whos-experienced-social-security-problems.html Thank you for your response Hannah and sorry to hear about these social security problems you've been having. It is personal stories like yours, which highlight so many important, interlinked issues, that we are hoping will make an actual difference to EU policies in the near future. There is of course plenty of research on researcher mobility issues (see 2 refs below) but it is important to complement this with a range of real-life, current stories. Thanks again. Ackers, H.L. and Oliver, E.A. (2009) 'Internationalisation, mobility and pensions: the experiences of early career researchers' Internationalisation of European Higher Education Handbook, 2nd supplement, Berlin: Raabe Fachverlag für Wissenschaftsinformation available at: http://tiny.cc/Handbook With Ackers, H.L. and Oliver, E.A. (2009) 'Permanently Packed Bags' and 'A Stable Foundation for Young Researchers' Mobility without Security?, Bonn: Hochschulrektorenkonferenz, 18-21 and 50- 53, available at: http://tiny.cc/HRKenglish http://vitae.ac.uk/researchers/207961/Are-you-a-reseacher-in-the-EU-whos-experienced-social-security-problems.html http://vitae.ac.uk/researchers/207961/Are-you-a-reseacher-in-the-EU-whos-experienced-social-security-problems.html Hi Catherine - I'm currently working in France on a 1 year contract and it's certainly not been easy! I wasn't able to opt out of the pension scheme but I have received no paperwork about it so have no idea whether it is transferable or not. I've signed up with the obligatory health insurance mutual, and the money's going out of my salary, but it's taken a lot of letters back and forth (and getting one of the PhD students to phone on my behalf) to try and get everything sorted. I'm still not sure it's finished (they wanted to see passport, birth & marriage certificates, so I took them into the office, but then they sent me another letter wanting to see the birth certificate again, so I sent it, but I've had no confirmation that worked). Fortunately I've not needed the doctor yet and am just crossing my fingers that I won't do before the end of my contract. I'm going to have to hire a financial advisor, I think, to untangle everything. On top of the pension unknowns, they don't do PAYE here so I'm going to have to do a tax return, and my French is not good enough for that sort of thing. http://vitae.ac.uk/researchers/207961/Are-you-a-reseacher-in-the-EU-whos-experienced-social-security-problems.html