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The Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, said this Saturday that the change in social support made by Parliament and promulgated by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has a “perverse and unfair effect.”
“The amendment that was approved at the point of parliamentary appreciation, what it does, in essence, is to change in a way and with a perverse and unfair effect the support system and the protection system in the field of Social Security”, said Ana Mendes Godinho. at a press conference on the balance of social support, which took place today at the Ministry of Labor, in Lisbon.
According to the official, the amendment “will index the support to the value of the worker’s billing and not to the relevant income for Social Security”, being “completely disconnected from the contributions made in the past to Social Security.” “It establishes an equal amount of the benefit for people who have discounted around 70% or for people who have discounted around 20% of the billing they had,” without changes in the universe of people covered, said the minister.
Ana Mendes Godinho believes that “there has not yet been a perception, and people have not realized exactly what is here on the table.”
According to the minister, the impact on Social Security accounts by changing the method of accounting for aid will be 40.4 million euros. Although they do not substantially expand the universe of beneficiaries, the aid can increase the amount that people receive each month by a few hundred euros.
In a case study presented, a freelancer with a turnover of 665 euros in 2020, who sells merchandise and discounted 28 euros, and another single service provider who has discounted 100, will both receive aid of 665 euros. “This is a profound change between the contribution system of the people themselves, and an injustice between the effort that we are all making,” he said about the support that could increase the amount that the self-employed receive by a few hundred euros.
The minister also highlighted the administrative problems posed by the implementation of the measure, since the billing is only known by the Treasury and not by Social Security.
The diplomas approved by the Parliament modified the reference period of the attribution, establishing that, for the purposes of calculating the support, “the annualized average monthly income of the worker in 2019 is considered”, and not the last 12 months, as established. Taking the last 12 months as the reference period, many beneficiaries saw the calculation to be made for 2020, the year of the pandemic, in which there has already been a general decline in economic activity.
The Prime Minister announced this Wednesday that the Government will promote the successive inspection by the Constitutional Court of the diplomas in social support, in the field of the covid-19 epidemic, approved by the Parliament and promulgated by the President of the Republic.
Ana Mendes Godinho said that the Government does not want to harm anyone in the implementation of the change to social assistance, adjusting the amount to the highest reference billing, be it 2019 or 2020.
“The intention of the Government is to ensure that it can be even greater, so that no one, with this change now approved, receives less,” said Ana Mendes Godinho at a press conference to present the balance of social support, which took place today. at the Ministry of Labor, in Lisbon.
According to the minister, with the legislative amendment that changes the reference period to calculate the billing support in 2019 instead of the last 12 months (which in 2021 would make the billing year 2020, a year with economic effects of the pandemic ) “It can change that for one person it will give more and for other people it will give less.” Ana Mendes Godinho also said that the average provision of support to the self-employed in the field of support changed meanwhile was lower in December 2020 than in February 2021.
Although the new measure does not substantially modify the universe of beneficiaries, as the calculation formula changes (moving to billing instead of Social Security contributions), several people can see the benefit improved by a few hundred euros. “With this change, we cannot let whoever received more begin to receive less,” said the minister.
Asked about the number of beneficiaries of the Extraordinary Support for Workers’ Income (AERT) and if the dispute with the President of the Republic does not show a restricted nature of the measure, the minister said that “it was created as a residual measure to respond to all the people who were in a situation of vulnerability ”. “AERT was created as an instrument for those who were not covered by other measures,” such as those who saw the end of unemployment and social unemployment benefits, informal or self-employed workers and managing partners with an income break in 2021, he said.
“With this universe, right now, in January and February, we have 202 thousand people covered” by social support, corresponding to 122 million euros, said the minister, referring to the universe that AERT intends to cover, which amounts to 250 thousand people as planned. in the State Budgets.
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