CORONAVIRUS

CORONAVIRUS

Posted on Mar 20, 2020

The 14 most relevant measures of the emergency plan:

1. Mortgage moratorium.
Approval of a moratorium on the payment of mortgages to people who have reduced their income or are unemployed due to the coronavirus.

2. Payment of supplies.
Deferral on the payment of basic supplies (water, electricity and gas) to vulnerable groups.

3. Social bonus.
Automatic extension until September of the social bonus to beneficiary households.

4. Attention to elderly and dependent people.
Creation of a specific contingency fund to strengthen care for the elderly, homeless and in nursing homes and dependents. Some 300 million euros will be allocated.

5. Easing of municipal expenditure.
Easing of the spending rule so that municipalities can use their surplus if they invest it in social care items such as care for dependency, social services and all kinds of social problems associated with the coronavirus crisis. Some 300 million euros will be allocated.

6. ERTE authorization.
The ERTE authorization process (temporary employment regulation files) will be streamlined. They will be considered made by force majeure and will be handled quickly.

7. Collection of unemployment in case of ERTE.
Unemployment benefit guarantee in case of ERTE. All workers affected by these procedures will have the right to collect unemployment, even if they do not meet the minimum contribution period required for it. In addition, the time the perception of this benefit lasts (counter to zero) will not be considered consumed.

8. Extension of unemployment benefit.
Automatic extension of unemployment benefits. No one will lose their rights due to the fact that they cannot go to the employment offices.

9. Boost to telework.
Facilitate teleworking through an "important" allocation to companies for the purchase of computers, while allowing workers to adapt or reduce their workday to care for their dependents, making it possible to reduce 100% of the day.

10. Help with family care.
Right to family care for all workers without being sanctioned or dismissed (reduction of working hours even up to 100% or reorganization for family care up to second grade -grandchildren and grandparents-).

11. Return of products.
Interruption of the return term for the return of consumer products.

12. Self-employed social security fee.
Self-employed oblige to closure due to the state of alarm or fall in incomes of a 75% are entitled to an extraordinary benefit irrespective of its status.

Self-employed in the said conditions will be exempt from paying their social security fee and also entitled to an allowance of the equivalent of a 70% of the regulatory base.

13. Tax deadlines.
All tax declarations must be submitted within their deadlines although there is a possibility of deferment of the debt of up to six-months maturing from the Royal Decree and until the 30th of May, always that certain requirements are met.

14. Companies may request liquidity loans.
Companies may request liquidity loans with the state as guarantor. This type of loan is to be managed directly with the bank.