Evaluation of Ingeus pilot project
The evaluation concerns the Ingeus pilot project, which was carried out in the period 2009 to 2013 and focused on the reintegration into the workforce of persons drawing Swiss invalidity pensions.
The evaluation shows that, on all counts, the programme was effective in lowering pension payments by increasing levels of paid employment. The number of invalidity pension beneficiaries among those taking part in the programme was reduced by 3.6% in the second year after the start of the programme (t+2) and by 7.3% in the third year (t+3). The monthly main pension and the pension percentage paid were 5% lower in t+1 and 10% lower in t+3, i.e. between CHF 63 and CHF 138 lower respectively. All of the groups examined – except for those drawing a complete pension with supplementary benefits and those who dropped out of the programme – benefited from taking part.
The economic viability analyses carried out indicate that the Ingeus programme was a sound financial investment from the standpoint of the invalidity insurance (IV) authorities. In the majority of the scenarios posited, the initial capital expenditure of around CHF 8,740 per participant more than made up for future pension payment savings. Furthermore, both reductions in supplementary benefits and increases in contributions were achieved.
The subjective assessment of those taking part was also positive, with the majority considering the programme to have been helpful for their future careers and stating that they would recommend it to others.
Without costly training measures it was possible to achieve significant improvements in both job placement and pension revisions simply through targeted efforts to raise motivation and intensify the participants' efforts to find jobs.