COVID-19: what are the new rules for family support?

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Declared as the greatest "global public health emergency" by the World Health Organization (WHO), the pandemic linked to COVID-19 has become a reality that has led countries around the world to take extraordinary preventive measures. Since the first State of Emergency, declared in 2020 by the President of the Republic, numerous extraordinary measures for companies and self-employed workers have been created, and there has also been room for new rules for Family Support.

This support emerged as one of the first measures in response to the social impact caused by this pandemic, but it was felt necessary to make some adjustments so that it could better meet its objectives.

On the one hand, it was recognised that workers with younger children face many japan whatsapp number database (if not impossibility) in reconciling their teleworking activities with caring for their children or other dependents. On the other hand, it was intended to provide greater guarantees to families by increasing the economic power of those with lower incomes or who are in a more fragile situation.

Furthermore, an attempt was made to create mechanisms that would encourage the option of alternating support between parents so that the same person would not always be responsible for this task, given that it was found that, during the first lockdown, more than 80% of the beneficiaries of this support were women, clearly showing a gender imbalance in the implementation of this measure.

Therefore, the Government extended this support to parents who are teleworking and who choose to provide support to their family, provided that certain conditions are met, and created the possibility that, in certain cases, exceptional support can reach 100% of the salary.

The truth is that, as soon as educational establishments and early childhood support institutions closed again – similar to what happened in 2020 –, this measure was restored so that parents had access to extraordinary support to compensate for the loss of salary.

However, it was necessary to reconfigure this support in order to address the difficulties experienced by parents working remotely, who were unable to access this support, and to adjust the rules so that workers with a base salary of up to 3 guaranteed minimum monthly payments could maintain their full income without bringing additional burdens to employers.

Thus, in accordance with Decree-Law No. 14-B/2021 , of February 22, which amended theDecree-Law No. 8-B/2021, of January 22, the rules for Family Support were updated and this support became accessible to teleworking workers and guaranteed 100% payment of support, in certain cases.

Teleworking workers

Combining teleworking with caring for younger children who are no longer able to attend in-person classes due to the closure of schools has created a series of challenges and difficulties for many families. However, given that some roles are compatible with teleworking, many parents have had to maintain their professional activity and, at the same time, look after their younger children, often putting an unsustainable strain on them. Therefore, there are situations in which teleworking workers may choose to interrupt their activity to care for their family, provided that they find themselves in one of the following situations:

Single-parent household, during the period of custody of the child or other dependent, who is entrusted to them by judicial or administrative decision of entities or services legally competent for this purpose;
Household that includes at least one child or other dependent who attends a social facility that supports early childhood, a pre-school or first cycle of basic education establishment (up to and including the 4th year of schooling);
Household that includes at least one dependent with a disability, with proven incapacity equal to or greater than 60%, regardless of age.
In any of these cases, the employee who is working remotely and intends to provide assistance to his/her family must notify the employer of his/her decision in writing, three days in advance of the date of interruption. Furthermore, parents cannot have simultaneous access to support.

Family support paid at 100%

This family support provides that the worker is entitled to exceptional monthly or proportional support corresponding to 2/3 of his/her base salary with a minimum limit of €665 (1 RMMG) and a maximum limit of €1995 (3 RMMG).

However, there are situations in which employees may receive Family Support corresponding to 100% of their base salary up to a maximum limit of €1,995. In this case, the additional amount to ensure 100% up to the limit of 3 RMMG is reimbursed by Social Security to the employer and is exempt from the employer's contribution to Social Security. The specific situations that allow receiving this support at 100% are the following:

The family unit is single-parent and benefits from the increase in the allowance for single-parent families;
Both parents receive support on a weekly basis, alternately.
How to manage COVID-19 support?
Employees, domestic workers, self-employed workers and, now, teleworkers are the professionals covered by this support. To manage the new family support measures, PRIMAVERA provides automatic mechanisms that apply the new rules decreed by the Government to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on family income.

With the application of this utility, the calculation of new salary processing variables and reporting obligations to Social Security is automatic. Furthermore, the utility is available free of charge for the most recent versions of ERP PRIMAVERA (namely versions 9, 10 and 9.20 Public Sector) and will be updated whenever the legislation changes, as happened in this second wave of the pandemic.

The new version of the COVID-19 Utility includes the extension of this support to teleworking workers and the guarantee of payment of 100% of the support, in certain cases. At the same time, the new version also includes the new Social Security guidelines, which dictate the new rules for submitting the Remuneration Declaration (DRi), in the case of 100% Family Support.