Background information

The Law no. 75 -B/2020, of 31 December 2020 (State Budget 2021), created an extraordinary income support (Apoio Extraordinário ao Rendimento dos Trabalhadores, AERT), for workers without any economic and social protection. This extraordinary support aims to ensure the continuity of income of workers who have lost their income from work and do not meet the conditions of access to social benefits in the event of unemployment, or having accessed them, they have expired. The support is means tested - verification of economic insufficiency on the basis of the average monthly income of the applicant's household - aimed at workers who, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, find themselves with incomes below the poverty line (of 2018 corresponding to €501.16).The implementation of the law was regulated by the Ordinance no.19-A/2021 of 25 January 2021.

Content of measure

The law applies to workers and members of statutory bodies that were in the following situations, on 1 January 2021 (Article 156):

1. Employees, including domestic workers, independent workers and members of statutory bodies with management functions, whose unemployment protection expires after the entry into force of this law.
2. Employees, including domestic workers, economically dependent self-employed workers and members of statutory bodies with management functions that, for reasons not attributable to them, were in a situation of unemployment, without access to the respective benefit, and who have at least three months of contributions in the 12 months immediately prior to the unemployment.
3. Self-employed and domestic service workers with at least three months of contributions for social security in the 12 months prior to the application for support, who had a decrease in their average monthly income above 40% in the period from March to December 2020 (compared with the average monthly income in 2019) and, cumulatively, between the income stated in the last quarterly income on the date the application and the relevant average monthly income for 2019.
4. Workers without any economic and social protection, which do not fall in the previous situations, in the condition that they integrate the social security system as self-employed and maintain this link during the granting of support and in the subsequent 30 months.
5. Managers of micro and small companies, sole proprietors, as well as members of statutory bodies of foundations, associations or cooperatives with similar functions and covered by social security schemes, (with a minimum of three consecutive months or six interpolated months of contributions in the 12 months prior to the application).
6. Trainee workers under professional internships.

The Ordinance no.19-A/2021 established the following supports:

• For employees, including domestic service workers (1), and trainees (6), the AERT corresponds to the difference between €501.16 and the average monthly income of the household and cannot be superior to the net income that the worker was receiving; this applies also for workers without any economic or social protection (4), when the nature of the work performed configures dependent work.
• For self-employed workers and members of statutory bodies (2), the AERT corresponds to the difference between the average monthly income in 2019 and the average monthly income in the last quarterly prior to the date of application, with a limit of €501.16; this applies also for workers without any economic or social protection (4), when the nature of the work performed configures self-employed work;
• For self-employed workers and members of statutory bodies (3), the AERT corresponds to 2/3 of the difference between the average average monthly income in the last quarterly prior to the date of application, with a limit of €501.16. For managers of micro and small companies, sole proprietors, as well as members of statutory bodies of foundations, associations or cooperatives with similar functions the support corresponds to the average remuneration recorded as a contributory base in the year 2019, in situations where this value is less than 1.5 IAS (IAS=Social Support Index=€438.81); and 2/3 of the value of the average remuneration, in situations where it is greater than or equal to 1.5 IA.

The extraordinary support is due from the beginning of the month prior to the submission of the application, although in exceptional and duly substantiated situations, the support may be due from a prior date.

The support corresponding to a benefit granted for one month, extendable monthly, is granted until December 2021, with a maximum period of 12 months for workers referred to in subparagraphs 1) and 2); and 6 months, consecutive or interpolated, for the workers referred to in subparagraphs 3) to 6).

The support provided for in this article has a minimum limit of €50, with the exception of following situations: 1) When the loss of income was above 1 IAS, the minimum support is limited to 0.5 IAS; 2) When the loss of income is between 0.5 IAS and 1 IAS, the minimum support is 50% of the amount loss (paragraph 9, Article 156).

Use of measure

According to the newspaper 'Expresso' (1 April 2021) the state budget 2021 envisaged that the AERT would cover 250,000 persons, but the government reported it only encompassed 39,000 persons in the 1st quarter.

Expresso .

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Applies to all workers	Does not apply to businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Public employment service Social insurance	National funds

Social partners

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

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Informed	Informed
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

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

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level

Involvement

The social partners the two trade union confederations (CGTP and UGT) and the four employer confederations (CAP,CCP, CIP and CTP) represented at the tripartite Standing Committee for Social Concertation (Comissão Permanente de Concertação Social, CPCS) were informed about this measure provided for in the law on the state budget for 2021. They were not involved in the design of the measure.

Views and reactions

Information not available.

Sources

• 31 December 2020: Lei n.º 75-B/2020 (dre.pt)
• 25 January 2021: Portaria n.º 19-A/2021 (dre.pt)
• 07 April 2021: Lei n.º 15/2021 (data.dre.pt)
• 13 April 2021: Decreto-Lei n.º 26-C/2021 (data.dre.pt)