The ministry has already convened a meeting with the social partners and self-employed associations to inform them about the process of regularising the contributions of self-employed workers. At the dialogue table on temporary incapacity, a follow-up of the processes and benefits will be studied to adapt their regulation to the new reality.
TDB keeps you informed. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
The Ministry of Social Security will set up two working groups on the self-employed and temporary disability
The Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, announced, during her speech at the New Economy Forum, that the Ministry she heads will open two new roundtables on self-employment and temporary disability.
Specifically, she said that the Ministry will convene a working group on the self-employed and will set up a roundtable on temporary disability, ‘two issues that are of great concern to us at the Ministry and which we know we can only address through consensus’, said the minister.
In line with what was agreed in the last pension agreement, a working group on temporary incapacity will be set up, the purpose of which, together with the social partners, will be to monitor the evolution of the processes and their benefits, the evolution of which is a concern shared by all. The aim will be to adapt their regulation to the new reality, in which they play a very important role.
On the subject of the self-employed, it should be noted that next Monday, 7 October, a meeting will be held between the social partners, self-employed associations and representatives of the Ministry to inform them about the process of regularising the contributions of self-employed workers. This is a completely new process, of exceptional technical complexity, which affects more than 3.6 million self-employed workers.
The minister stressed the importance of dialogue and consensual reforms, ‘For a country to move forward, it is necessary to reach agreements between different sensibilities and opinions. For reforms to have the greatest legitimacy and be long-lasting, there is only one recipe: consensus’.
Social Security, the window of conciliation
Saiz highlighted the good performance of Social Security enrolment, making this September the month with the highest number of employed people in the system, at over 21.2 million.
‘Social Security is the window for work-life balance’, said Saiz, who described the measures promoted in this regard, which have included identical parental leave for both parents, measures to correct the gender gap and the Minimum Vital Income, which is fundamental in the fight against poverty, especially for women with dependent children.
‘Social Security is the window for work-life balance’, said Saiz, who described the measures promoted in this regard, which have included identical parental leave for both parents, measures to correct the gender gap and the Minimum Vital Income, which is fundamental in the fight against poverty, especially for women with dependent children.
‘As for the pension agreement, it does not change the retirement age or the criteria for accessing ordinary retirement, but rather promotes a flexible transition to a pension, provided that workers choose to maintain their work activity’, he stressed.
New immigration regulations
During his speech, he announced that in October he will attend the Justice and Home Affairs Council to be held on 10 October in Luxembourg, ‘This is the first time that a Spanish Minister for Migration has attended the forum in which the most important issues of European migration policy are discussed’. Saiz pointed out the importance of this participation and Spain’s commitment to regular, orderly and safe migration, to avoid ‘terrible’ tragedies such as the one last September in El Hierro. ‘Irregular routes are a humanitarian drama and we have to begin, as a society, to consider them as such. Every death hurts us and we have these people very much in mind in every step we take in our migration policy.
The minister explained that the new regulation adapts the reality of migration to three pillars: training, employment and family, ‘placing human rights at the centre’. These three aspects define Spain’s current migration policy, ‘an example in Europe and throughout the Americas’.
‘The new regulation will be the instruction manual to provide a solution to the practical and concrete questions that arise in migration management’, he said. The regulation is part of the law on foreigners, ‘the keystone’ of migration policy, a complex and multifaceted figure that includes diplomatic relations with countries of origin, humanitarian care at points of arrival, legal procedures for visas and authorisations, programmes for the inclusion of migrants, and also, lest we forget, looking after Spanish citizens who are abroad.
In the last three years, more than 350,000 people from other countries have regularised their situation in our country, thanks to the latest reform of the arraigo. It has also helped to speed up recruitment procedures in the countries of origin, thanks to the circular migration programmes. Saiz recalled that the second reform of the regulation has allowed 60% of unaccompanied or ex-custody minors to be registered with Social Security and has speeded up procedures so that students can continue their training in Spain without having to return to their country of origin.