The Minister of Inclusion and Social Security, Jose Luis Escrivaintends to restructure the benefit for cessation of activity -commonly known as the ‘stoppage’ of the freelancers– to make it more accessible to the collective. Until now, this resource has had little travel among self-employed workers due to its restrictive requirements and now the Government is finalizing changes within the reform of the contribution system that has been negotiating for months, as it has been transferred this Monday to the most representative. One of the novelties will be the possibility for the self-employed capitalize the cessation of activity to collect the entire benefit at once and thus have financial muscle to restructure or restart your business.
The negotiation to finish defining what the new quotation system for the self-employed goes into discount time. “Approval in the first half of 2022. Gradual deployment from that date.” This was the commitment that the Government left in writing with Brussels in exchange for receiving European funds. And with less than four weeks to go June 30th the minister Jose Luis Escriva It does not yet have a unanimous consensus with all the organizations that represent the collective. Although this Monday it has become clear that there are not many differences in terms of the reform of benefits, in the field of quotas the positions remain far apart.
This Monday the parties have met again and the employers and ATA they have transferred to Social Security their ‘no’ to the latest proposal, which sought a scheme of sections with quotas between 250 and 550 euros per month. What is pushing Escrivá to have to opt for a pact only with the unions and their related organizations, something he has resisted until now. Although it would not be the first time that it ends up activating. Last November and after weeks of negotiations, the employers refused to support the increase in social security contributions among employees that the minister intended to create a ‘piggy bank’ with which to pay for future expenses in pensions. And before the ‘no’ of the employers, the Government ended up agreeing only with the unions and carrying out the measure.
A very similar script is happening in the current negotiation to reform the self-employed quota system. The employers’ association and ATA – its organization of self-employed workers – reject the increase in costs that the Escrivá reform would entail for part of the group. According to estimates partially accepted by all parties, of the 3.3 million self-employed operating today in Spain, 1.8 million would pay less than the current minimum fee (which is 290 euros). Then another half million would pay a fee similar to the current minimum fee. And the other little more than a million remaining would pay more. Assuming that you currently pay the minimum, you would pay from 1,700 euros of income a fee of between 400 and 500 euros.
ATA considers such conditions to be a ‘hack‘ from the Government to the pockets of part of the group and maintains the employer’s line of saying ‘no’ to any measure that involves a direct increase in labor costs. This Monday’s meeting has served to verify the negotiating blockade in this way and the organizations related to the unions -Upta and Uatae- pressure Escrivá to unravel the reform and close it with them. upta -linked to the UGT- has been publicly pressing for weeks to settle the negotiation and hopes that it will not happen until next Monday, when they are again summoned to a new meeting. While Uatae is suspicious that the minimum fees in Escrivá’s latest proposal continue to be too high in his eyes for the lowest income brackets (even being lower than the current ones).
Cessation of activity
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The Ministry has promised to send throughout this week its written proposal to reform the benefit for cessation of activity. According to sources present at the negotiation, the new scheme would be divided into several modalities (compared to the only one that currently exists). On the one hand, the ordinary cessation of activity would be maintained, which a self-employed person could request if he accumulates a few months with billing losses (how many and what level the losses would be is something that has not yet been specified). Then a temporary cessation of activity would be enabled, in case the self-employed person had to interrupt his activity unexpectedly.
And then there would be the possibility for the self-employed to capitalize their benefit for cessation of activity, collect it all at once and thus have resources to restart or reform their business. Until now, for wage earners there was the possibility of capitalizing on unemployment and being able to set up a business, but not for the self-employed.