The Government will seek an agreement for the self-employed to quote based on their income

Minister Magdalena Valerio says that this agreement will serve as a "road map" for the reform that the Government is studying

The Executive will intensify the action of the Labor Inspectorate against false self-employed workers.

The Minister of Labour, Migrations and Social Security, Magdalena Valerio, today called for an "agreement" so that self-employed workers contribute based on their real income, just as employees do.

In statements made within the framework of the summer courses of the Complutense University of Madrid in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Valerio has recognized that while there are freelancers "overquoting", "a large percentage" are "underquoting". For this reason, it has considered that the contributions of self-employed workers should be modulated through a series of contribution brackets and linked to the changing income that they receive monthly.

In this way, Trabajo proposes that the self-employed can pay their contributions quarterly and apply corrections throughout the year. "It is not reasonable that a self-employed person who has an income of 150 euros in a month has to pay a fee of 300 euros," he pointed out. The fact of not contributing for what is entered is also reflected in the retirement pensions of the self-employed, which are "much lower" than those of the workers of the General Regime. As Valerio has pointed out, the average pension for self-employed workers is set at 650 euros, while that of other workers reaches 1,100 euros.

To achieve these changes, the minister has demanded an agreement from the subcommittee that is studying in the Congress of Deputies the reform of the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (RETA) that serves as a "road map" to be followed by the Executive of Pedro Sánchez in this matter.

Against labor exploitation

Valerio has also confirmed that the Government will intensify the action of the Labor Inspectorate to combat the figure of the false self-employed. The measure will be included in the master plan for the fight against labor exploitation advanced by President Pedro Sánchez himself and on which the Executive is already working in collaboration with the autonomous communities.

In this sense, Valerio has considered the "abuse" that companies make of false freelancers "absolutely intolerable" and has recalled that recently "infringement reports have been filed" against technology companies precisely for carrying out this type of practice. "Labor legislation should not be used abusively when it implies worse working conditions for people," he criticized.

Termination benefit reform

Another of the fronts that the Executive keeps open in terms of the self-employed is the "difficulty" of these to access the benefit for cessation of activity, which corresponds to the unemployment benefit of workers employed by others. This announcement of reform responds to a historical demand of the group that already pointed out the complexity to access the aid, demonstrating the definitive cessation of the activity, despite having contributed for it. "We must give an important review to the benefit for cessation of activity, because much more is collected for it than what is distributed in benefits, since the requirements are very difficult to meet", pointed out the minister.