[ad_1]
November aid should flow “quickly and without bureaucracy.” But apart from the payments on account, the applicants have not seen anything yet. The software is to blame.
By Lucretia Gather and Stephan Lenhardt, SWR
Physical trainer Esme Coraggioso is slowly losing her strength: she has created her own studio. Because that was booming, he only moved into a fancy new building in Mainz two years ago. She maneuvered her company through the first shutdown. But now, since November, their fear of having to cease operations is growing and the hope that it will somehow work, is diminishing.
After SWR-Information, the payment of the full aid for November will be delayed until January. “I would like to know from politicians how I should explain this to my employees if they don’t get paid in January,” asks Caraggioso. Because as an employer, you also have to make upfront payments for short-term work benefits. She employs seven permanent employees, three temporary workers, and several freelancers.
Advance flow
The Federal Ministry of Labor refers to the advances of aid for November, which, according to the ministry, have been flowing since last week. The Federal Ministry of Labor has received around 120,000 applications so far. According to government figures, around 318 million euros have been disbursed so far. “In almost 90 percent of direct applications from self-employed, advances have already been initiated. In applications submitted through tax advisers, almost 75 percent have initiated advance payments,” the ministry writes. ARD-Investigation. These payments amount to a maximum of 10,000 euros.
The gym operator Coraggioso only pays 11,000 euros a month for rent. And for many larger companies, advances are also a drop in the bucket. After all: the Federal Ministry of Finance now wants to verify higher payments.
Software is missing in countries
The fact that full payments that go beyond the discounts flow out on January 10 at the earliest, has the SWR after a change of federal status. The Federal Ministry of the Economy does not provide any information. “I still cannot give a date on the regular payment. Here we work closely with the federal states, as the regular payment is made by the respective state authorities (…),” wrote a spokeswoman. ARD-Investigation.
The Rhineland-Palatinate Minister for the Economy, Volker Wissing (FDP), explains in the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”: “The federal government will not make the software for processing the November aid available to the federal states until 20 December, so processing will only start later. In simple terms, this means: beyond the initial payment, in fact, there can hardly be any payments in 2020. “
The president of the German Association of Hotels and Restaurants in Rhineland-Palatinate, Gereon Haumann, criticized: “It is a scandal that we have to wait more than two and a half months. We closed in two and a half days.” Haumann estimates that only about ten percent of its member companies have received upfront payments. “Many companies will be faced with the existential question of whether they can still afford it tomorrow. I see two-thirds of companies in Rhineland-Palatinate in existential danger.”
Since 2021 to no more sales rebate
The so-called November and December aid are based on the previous year’s sales. Grants amounting to 75 percent of comparable sales in 2019 are available as grants. But from January 2021, aid should no longer be based on sales, but only on fixed costs.
DEHOGA state chairman Haumann says: “This is completely unacceptable because our industry is not a driver of a pandemic. In this sense, compensation must be paid in the same amount! That doesn’t help either, it’s compensation for the fact that the industry has closed without our own intervention. was to serve the high good health of the population. ”
“I do not sleep well”
Coraggioso means “brave” in German. Adequacy: The gym operator even went to court against the closure of her business. However, two weeks ago, the Mainz Administrative Court rejected his urgent request, although the court expressed “considerable doubts” as to whether the closure of the gyms is compatible with the principle of equality. “I don’t sleep well because I often don’t know what to do next. He’s like my firstborn, who is dying,” says the brave about her study. “I am very afraid of that.”
