The regulation on the social security regime for Cultural Workers was published this Friday, July 14, more than a year and a half after the entry into force of the Statute for Professionals in this sector.
The regulation, published today in Diário da República and which comes into force on Saturday, concerns the regime that allows workers enrolled in the Statute of Cultural Professionals to access, for example, the subsidy for suspension of activity, similar to unemployment subsidy.
The Cultural Professionals Statute entered into force on January 1, 2022 and, in order to benefit from it, the worker needs to register in advance.
The part of the statute that concerns social protection came into force in July 2022, but it was only from 1 October 2022 that registered workers could have access to the subsidy, whose value varies between 443,2 euros and 1.108 euros.
However, it is only now that the legislation that regulates this special social protection regime comes into force. According to the Diário da República, the ordinance takes effect from October 1, 2022.
Last June, after a meeting with the supervisory authorities, several structures representing workers warned that a single activity suspension subsidy had not yet been paid and that one of the reasons was related to the lack of regulation.
«Naturally we think that after a year and a half of the statute being implemented, it is very serious that things are still not working», said, at the time, the president of Plateia – Association of Professionals of the Performing Arts Amarílis Felizes, to Portuguese.
On 5 July, at a parliamentary hearing, the Minister of Culture acknowledged that there is a "very small" number of potential beneficiaries of the subsidy, due to the very nature of the Statute.
According to Pedro Adão e Silva, in order to access the subsidy, the worker has to make an “additional contribution [to Social Security], about four percentage points above what self-employed workers are obligated”.
The Minister of Culture confirmed that «the number of Culture workers who are making this additional contribution is tiny» and that this deserves reflection.
«A system that has such a low level of 'take up' [execution] implies reflection. But the level of 'take up' has nothing to do with regulation, nor with Social Security. It has to do with the optional nature and the additional contribution effort », he said.
According to the law, the Statute of Cultural Professionals, which came into force on January 1, 2022, "is reviewed within two years".
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