Background information

Under the scope of the Economic and Social Stabilisation Programme approved by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers 41/2020 of 6 of June, the Decree-Law 46-A/2020 of 30 July creates extraordinary support for the progressive recovery of companies in a situation of business crisis, for the temporary reduction of the normal working time, with a view to maintaining employment. This extraordinary support applies to employers of a private nature, including those in the social sector, who have been affected by the COVID-19 disease pandemic and who are, as a result, in a business crisis situation.

Content of measure

The extraordinary support for the progressive recovery of companies in a situation of business crisis with temporary reduction of the normal working time is cumulative with a training plan approved by the Institute for Employment and Vocational Training (Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional, I. P. - IEFP, I. P.). (Decree-Law 46-A/2020, article 10) This training plan confers the right to a grant with the amount of 30% of the Social Support Index (the full amount of this index is €438.81 in 2020) per worker. This grant is supported by IEFP, I.P. and is aimed to the employer and to the worker in equal parts.

The training should be organised by the IEFP, I.P. and may be run remotely, whenever possible and allowed by the circumstances.

It should contribute to the improvement of the professional competences of the workers, whenever possible increasing their qualification level, and contribute to the improvement of the competitiveness of the company.

The training must correspond to the qualification modalities foreseen in the Qualifications National System.

Also, it should be implemented out of the schedule of actual provision of work, provided that within the normal working time.

The operationalisation of the training plan should be ensured by the following training bodies: the centres for employment and vocational training from the IEFP, I. P. network; and accredited training bodies or organisations that are exempt from certification as training body, if a cooperation agreement is celebrated with IEFP, I. P. Furthermore, the trade union confederations represented at the Standing Committee for Social Concertation or their sectoral or regional associates may act as training providers, if they are accredited as training bodies and a cooperation agreement is celebrated with IEFP, I. P.

Use of measure

According to the report by Mamede and Silva (coord.) (2021), O Estado da Nação e as Políticas Públicas 2021 - Governar em Estado de Emergência, the (simplifed) layoff protected employment in the short-term but did not take advantage of the opportunity for training. Between March and July 2020, 1.25% of the workers covered by lay-off were included in training plans, corresponding to 342 (0.3%) of the 113,000 businesses that made use of the lay-off measure.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Trade unions Employers' organisations Company / Companies	European Funds National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Consulted	Consulted
Form	Consultation through tripartite or bipartite social dialogue bodies	Consultation through tripartite or bipartite social dialogue bodies

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Social partners jointly
• Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level

Involvement

The trade union confederations CGTP and UGT and the four employer confederations CIP, CAP, CCP and CTP represented at the tripartite Standing Committee for Social Concertation have been consulted.

Also the measures provided for in this decree-law will be subject to regular assessment by the Standing Committee for Social Concertation (article 18).

Furthermore, the trade union confederations represented at the Standing Committee for Social Concertation or their sectoral or regional associates may act as training providers, if they are accredited as training bodies and a cooperation agreement is celebrated with IEFP, I. P. (article 10 - paragraph 6).

Views and reactions

Partially supportive.

According to information released by the Público newspaper, on 19 February 2021, the social partners express criticism on the measure, although in different ways.

Employers and trade unions agree on one idea: adherence to the training measures was very low given the major economic downturn.

The employers' confederations, namely the Confederation of Portuguese Tourism (CTP) and the Confederation of Portuguese Business (CIP), point out flaws in the model, recognising that it was a measure relegated to a second plan, compared to the measures of simplified layoff or extraordinary support to the progressive resumption of activity; because it lacked disclosure; there was too much bureaucracy; and the concern of managers was primarily to ensure the survival and maintain jobs.

The unions say that this was a lost opportunity, when there were hundreds of thousands of workers out of work, especially in the first phase of the pandemic.

The General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP-IN) highlights the very low interest that companies showed in using downtime to retrain, reinforce and create skills among workers. This lack of interest will have been enhanced by the Government's choice not to establish a mandatory connection between training and layoff.

The General Workers Union (UGT) recognises that there was indeed a lack of interest from companies, but states that it is not legitimate to evaluate the result without taking into account the extraordinary circumstances generated by the pandemic. There were simpler and more immediate measures. It also notes that companies and workers had few conditions to reflect and plan a type of training that was adequate to the pandemic situation.

Sources

• 06 June 2020: Resolução do Conselho de Ministros n.º 41/2020 (dre.pt)
• 30 June 2020: Programa de Estabilização Económica e Social (www.portugal.gov.pt)
• 30 July 2020: Decreto-Lei 46-A/202 (dre.pt)
• 15 January 2021: Decreto-Lei n.º 6-C/2021 (data.dre.pt)
• 19 February 2021: Público - Só 0,3% das empresas em layoff pediram formação profissional (www.publico.pt)
• 24 March 2021: Decreto-Lei n.º 23-A/2021 de 24 de Març (dre.pt)
• 12 May 2021: Decreto-Lei n.º 32/2021 (data.dre.pt)
• 01 July 2021: O Estado da Nação e as Políticas Públicas 2021 - Governar em Estado de Emergência (ipps.iscte-iul.pt)