Increase in the contributions of the self-employed without improving the conditions of access to unemployment

The Public Employment Services update the brochure with information on how to access unemployment in the self-employed, without making access conditions more flexible, despite the commitments.

The month of January began for the self-employed with a general increase in the fee they pay monthly. This increase is derived from the obligation to contribute for professional contingencies and cessation of activity, mainly. Two coverages that were previously optional, and that become mandatory.

This obligation to contribute due to cessation of activity clashes with the harsh conditions of access to benefits due to said cessation (unemployment of the self-employed), for which reason the associations that defend the self-employed group have requested their flexibility. They argue that, if everyone is obliged to contribute, they must have guarantees that, when they need it, they will be able to access unemployment. Failure to do so will generate a surplus derived from contributions that will be of no use to the autonomous community.

“If we take into account that there are 455,000 self-employed workers who have contributed to this benefit last year, we come to the conclusion that there is a surplus of 126 million euros, according to data from the latest Social Security Financial Economic report. 126 million euros that have not been used for the social protection of self-employed professionals, which was their mission”, explained the general secretary of UATAE, María José Landaburu, in a recent interview in this medium.

Now there will be more than three million who will contribute due to the cessation of activity, so that an even greater surplus will be generated for the state coffers.

Although the self-employed are already making mandatory contributions due to the cessation of activity, for the moment the conditions are not relaxed. The Public Employment Services have just updated the informative triptych on this issue on their website, with no changes as regards their harsh access conditions:

• Have the contingency for cessation of activity covered, and be up to date with the payment of Social Security contributions.
• Have a minimum contribution period of one year continuously over time, and immediately prior to termination.
• That the reasons for cessation of activity are justified as established in article 331 of the TRLGSS, which establishes as valid reasons such as economic losses greater than 10 percent of the income obtained in the same period, judicial or administrative executions, force majeure, violence gender or divorce, among others.
• Not having reached retirement age.

In the coming weeks, the creation of a committee is expected to pool the proposals needed by the self-employed. Now with more urgency, because while the self-employed make mandatory unemployment contributions, they continue to have very limited access to this benefit.