The Catalan Government prepares 200 million euros to help freelancers

BarcelonaAfter the chaos experienced last month regarding the freelancer's subsidies, which left thousands of workers without this benefit and collapsed the website, the Catalan Government is finalizing the details of the new aid that will be activated during the next few days in order to help one of the groups most affected by the pandemic. The aid, according to the Government's spokesperson, Meritxell Budó, will reach the applicants' bank accounts before the end of the year.

The benefit, which will also be of 2,000 euros, will be granted once it is activated for all self-employed who have registered via the special website, which opened Monday and will close on December 7 at 3 PM. As the ARA has learned, the forecasts with which the Government is working are that there will be about 100,000 self-employed workers and, therefore, they are prepared for the aid to be around 200 million euros, which, in fact, is the amount requested by the unions. Yesterday this number of applicants had not yet been reached, but it is expected that in the last few days there will be an upsurge in requests and therefore the figure of 100,000 applicants will be very close or slightly exceeded, which could lead to a change in the allocation.

Consulted by this newspaper, spokespersons of the department of Economy insist that the amount is not closed and that it is necessary to wait for the end of the registration period. "From the Government we have always said that it will be very important to adapt to the number of applications", the same spokespersons state. It is clear, then, that it will be more than 100 million euros. The final amount, they add, will be established from Monday, when the meeting with the Consell del Treball Autònom [Council of Freelance Work] takes place, of which, apart from representatives of the Catalan government, also involves different social agents.

The other concern of the Catalan Government is to study all the available resources in case it has to face new subsidy calls, since they have always maintained that these benefits "will be sustained over time" and will last until the end of the restrictive measures that are causing the covid-19 pandemic. "We want to be able to have resources available to create new calls, always adapting the requirements at all times", the Catalan Ministry of Economy states.

The most important subsidy

This aid of about 200 million euros for freelancers will be the most important subsidy that the Government has activated since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, last March. Apart from the specific benefits other groups have received - such as the hospitality industry or the cultural world -, the Government has activated two lines of freelancers' aid throughout the past nine months. The first was for 7.5 million euros, which was activated in April and was for a maximum of 2,000 euros. Workers reported that it was very restrictive. In the end, 8,869 self-employed workers benefited, with an average aid of 900 euros each. The second, of 20 million euros, is the one that ran out in three hours on November 10. In this case, it reached 10,000 of the 100,000 self-employed who were eligible for it.

The requirements

You must have your tax domicile in Catalonia, and be registered with RETA, or a mutual insurance company, before 1 October.

The net yield of the applicant's activity in the first three quarters of 2020 cannot exceed 13,125 euros.

The taxable income in the last financial year must be a maximum of 35,000 euros.