To increase maternity and paternity allowance, introduce the right to notional contribution in the case of severe illness and create a new general social shock absorber for VAT numbers. These are the three measures proposed by the Cnel to increase the protections in favor of self-employed and professionals enrolled in the INPS separate management only (therefore those who are also covered by a private pension fund are excluded). The interventions are contained in a bill already announced in the Senate and in the House.
In the technical report attached to the provision, the Council underlines that in the decade 2009-2018 the total number of these workers increased from one million and 148 thousand to one million and 430 thousand units (for an estimated incidence on GDP of 12,2% ) and that “the trend towards quantitative and qualitative growth in the professional sector will be a constant over the next few years”.
The problem is "the inequality with respect to the social protections reserved for subordinate-employee work – writes the Cnel again – which makes the current regulatory context relating to the rights of workers in this sector anachronistic and inadequate”. The legislative interventions of recent years, such as the introduction of thefair compensation (2018) and the extension of the protections in favor of members of the INPS separate management (2019), "have not all been fully implemented - continues the report - and leave various protection fronts uncovered in the event of critical events related to personal life and to the economic cycle".
Hence the three measures proposed by Cnel in favor of VAT numbers, which however do not involve "additional direct or indirect financial burdens on public finance". Let's see in detail what it is.
1) MATERNITY AND PATERNITY BENEFITS
First, the National Economic and Labor Council is proposing to increase maternity and paternity benefits for female and self-employed workers from 80 to 100% of the minimum daily wage.
2) CONTRIBUTIONS IN THE EVENT OF SERIOUS ILLNESS
Secondly, Cnel also wants to grant this sector the right to a notional contribution in the event of serious illness, "certified as resulting from therapeutic treatments for oncological diseases or serious worsening chronic-degenerative pathologies - reads the bill - or which in any case result in 100% incapacity for work". These conditions would be equivalent to a hospital stay, which is calculated as a period of notional contributions (that is, automatically credited by the INPS without any charge for the workers).
3) ISCRO, A SOCIAL DAMPER FOR VAT NUMBER
Finally, the Board proposes the creation of a new social shock absorber: the extraordinary Indemnity for income and operational continuity (Iscro). It would be provided by INPS to mitigate the consequences of "critical events of a personal, social and economic nature affecting the economic activity of self-employed workers - writes the Cnel - as well as to ensure the continuity and relaunch of the activity itself in such situations" .
Iscro would be entitled to "self-employed professionals who in the year preceding the one in which the application is presented suffered an income reduction equal to or greater than 50% of the average income earned in the previous 3 years", provided that "the income declared in the year preceding that in which the application is presented is less than 8.145 euros”. Furthermore, to be entitled to Iscro, two other conditions must be met: having been registered for at least 3 years with the separate INPS management and never having closed the VAT number in the three years preceding the application.
The value of Iscro, according to the Cnel project, is equal to 50% of the difference between the average income of the 3 years before the crisis and the income of the year preceding the one in which the application is presented. In any case, the total amount cannot exceed 6.516 euros. The allowance is paid in 6 months and cannot be combined with the basic income. It can be applied for a maximum of three times, but at least five years must pass between each application.
Finally, "the disbursement of the Iscro is conditional on regular participation in professional refresher courses", concludes the Cnel.
“COVID HAS AGGRAVATED INEQUALITIES”
The bill "comes at a crucial moment for self-employed workers, put to the test by the health emergency from Covid-19 - says Gaetano Stella, Cnel adviser and rapporteur of the text - The absence of a modern social protection network and welfare, together with partial and not fully implemented regulatory interventions, have led over the years to a profound social inequality that manifested itself acutely during the pandemic. We now have a legislative instrument in hand that allows us to bridge this imbalance with respect to subordinate-employee work and to take an important step towards the universality of protections”.
