Text file: 1385.txt
author: robinjo
downvotes: 7
end consideration date: 2011-02-10
id: '1385'
number comments: 17
number views: 7119
proposal type: Competent authority response
response: "Response by the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs\nPublic works\
  \ is one of the active employment policy programmes aimed at the labour and social\
  \ inclusion of unemployed people who find it difficult to find suitable employment\
  \ on the labour market. Unemployed persons conclude a specific employment contract\
  \ with contractors/employers, the conclusion of which is subject to specific conditions\
  \ regarding remuneration, duration of annual leave, full-time work and grounds for\
  \ termination of the contract. Public works are organised for the purpose of carrying\
  \ out social, educational, cultural, nature conservation, municipal, agricultural\
  \ and other programmes.  In 2011, public works are being carried out on the basis\
  \ of the provisions of Articles 52, 53 and 53a of the Employment and Unemployment\
  \ Insurance Act (Official Journal of the RS, No 107/06 - Official consolidated text,\
  \ 114/06 - ZUTPG, 59/07 - Z\u0160tip, 63/07 - corrected version, as amended), The\
  \ implementing documents for public works for 2011 are the Public Works Programme\
  \ for 2011, adopted by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia in October 2010,\
  \ the Rules on the Financing of Public Works (Official Journal of the Republic of\
  \ Slovenia, no. The volume of funds allocated by the budget of the Republic of Slovenia\
  \ for the implementation of the labour market policy is taken into account when\
  \ determining the volume of funds for the implementation and co-financing of public\
  \ works. Consequently, the funds of the annual public call for tender for the selection\
  \ of public works programmes must also be in line with the funds of the budget of\
  \ the Republic of Slovenia for this purpose.  The partners in the co-financing and\
  \ implementation of individual public works programmes selected in the public call\
  \ for proposals are the Employment Service of the Republic of Slovenia (hereinafter:\
  \ the Employment Service) and the contracting authorities or contractors/employers\
  \ of the public works programmes. The Institute provides the costs of: medical examinations\
  \ of participants (including unemployed persons); a share of participants' wages;\
  \ transport of participants to and from work; and the costs of participants' meals\
  \ during work. In determining the share of the Institute's resources for participants'\
  \ wages, account is taken of the classification of municipalities belonging to areas\
  \ with a higher unemployment rate than the average unemployment rate in the Republic\
  \ of Slovenia. For example, the Institute provides 90 % of the wage in municipalities\
  \ with an average unemployment rate above and including 15,5 %, or 80 % of the wage\
  \ in municipalities with an average unemployment rate between 12,0 % and 15,5 %.\
  \ The contracting authorities or contractors/employers of public works programmes,\
  \ on the other hand, mainly provide funds to cover the cost of the wage differential\
  \ for participants (e.g. 10 % in municipalities with an average unemployment rate\
  \ above and including 15,5 %) and the cost of the annual leave allowance (annual\
  \ leave allowance).  The public works participant is entitled to a salary expressed\
  \ as a percentage of the minimum wage according to the levels of qualification for\
  \ the work he/she manages in the public works. For example, a person with a level\
  \ I qualification is entitled to 80 % of the minimum wage and a person with a level\
  \ VII qualification to 150 % of the minimum wage. In 2010, the average monthly number\
  \ of participants was 3 982, and the average monthly cost per participant paid from\
  \ the budget of the Republic of Slovenia was EUR 758,76 for a 30-hour weekly work\
  \ commitment, which is considered as full-time in public works (Article 53 of ZZZPB-1).\
  \ Given the structure of the unemployed (educational, age, structure according to\
  \ the time of registration in the unemployment register), it is not reasonable to\
  \ refer all unemployed persons to public works. Unemployed persons are integrated\
  \ into an appropriate active employment policy programme on the basis of an employment\
  \ plan, which is a written agreement between the unemployed person and the Institute\
  \ on how to resolve the unemployment status. In the context of the preparation of\
  \ an employment plan, the employment counsellor at the Employment Service also determines\
  \ the advisability of including the unemployed person in a specific active employment\
  \ policy programme. As a rule, young people without qualifications can be included\
  \ in training and education programmes, mainly with the aim of acquiring additional\
  \ skills and knowledge to enter the labour market more quickly. Long-term unemployed\
  \ persons and recipients of cash benefits and social assistance may also be prioritised\
  \ for public works. Through appropriate and meaningful referrals, the Institute\
  \ seeks to address structural problems in the labour market as far as possible.\
  \   The areas of public works are defined in Article 52(1) of the ZZZPB-1, and the\
  \ content of the public works is defined in more detail by area of implementation\
  \ in the Catalogue of Public Works (the Catalogue), which is published on the following\
  \ website of the Institute: www.ess.gov.si/_files/1619/Javna_dela_Katalog_2011.pdf.\
  \ It can be seen from the Catalogue that the proposed specific content is already\
  \ defined in this document. For example, in the field of education, teaching assistance\
  \ in primary and secondary schools and assistance in the supplementary activities\
  \ of kindergartens may be carried out; in the field of public utilities, the improvement\
  \ and maintenance of public areas may be carried out; in the field of culture, assistance\
  \ in organising and carrying out cultural activities and events may be carried out,\
  \ or content with a view to preserving cultural heritage may be carried out. In\
  \ the field of social protection, the implementation of activities that provide\
  \ assistance to the elderly and disabled (e.g. home care, personal assistance to\
  \ the disabled) may also be carried out. The extent to which the activities defined\
  \ in the Catalogue may be carried out depends on the availability of funds in the\
  \ budget of the Republic of Slovenia for this purpose.   The right of unemployed\
  \ persons to a cash benefit is defined in the Labour Market Act and is granted to\
  \ unemployed persons who have been insured for at least 9 months in the last 24\
  \ months before becoming unemployed. The basis for the cash benefit is, as a rule,\
  \ the insured person's average monthly salary received during the eight months preceding\
  \ the month in which the unemployment occurred. The average monthly payment from\
  \ the budget of the Republic of Slovenia per recipient of cash benefits, including\
  \ employer contributions, was EUR 608 gross and EUR 525 net per month in 2010. \
  \ The right to cash social assistance is defined in the Social Welfare Act (Official\
  \ Journal of the Republic of Slovenia, No 3/07, 23/07, 41/07, 41/07, 41/07, 41/07,\
  \ 41/07, 41/07, 41/07, 41/07, 41/07, 41/07), Article 21 of the Social Welfare Act\
  \ provides that persons who are unable to provide themselves and their family members\
  \ with resources equal to the minimum income for reasons beyond their control or\
  \ control and who have exercised the right to cash benefits under other regulations\
  \ and the right to exemptions and reliefs under this Act, and who meet other conditions\
  \ under this Act, are entitled to cash social assistance. According to Article 22\
  \ of the Social Security Act, the basic amount of the minimum income is currently\
  \ EUR 229.52. However, a person is not entitled to social assistance if he or she\
  \ does not meet the minimum income for reasons beyond his or her control or for\
  \ reasons beyond his or her control, or if he or she refuses, avoids or abandons,\
  \ without justifiable reasons, activities which could or might lead to employment\
  \ or to other means of improving the social situation of himself or herself and\
  \ his or her family members (24. Analysis of the proposal and reasons for its (in)appropriateness:\
  \ We consider the proposal to be well-intentioned, but we consider it unworkable,\
  \ especially in view of the statutory right of unemployed persons to a cash allowance\
  \ or to social assistance and, above all, in view of the systemic regulation of\
  \ public works.   Cash benefits and social assistance are two different social transfers\
  \ of the social security systems, which are not independent of each other but complement\
  \ each other. The social unemployment insurance system is based on the so-called\
  \ insurance principle, which means that the insured person acquires insurance rights\
  \ solely on the basis of the payment of contributions, although the law may provide\
  \ otherwise in a particular case (Article 59(2) of the Labour Market Regulation\
  \ Act). Furthermore, the duration of the receipt of the cash benefit is limited\
  \ in time and conditional on a previous period of insurance. Eligibility for the\
  \ cash benefit is thus linked to the existence of a previous insurance relationship\
  \ (i.e. employment or other insurance relationship which is the basis for inclusion\
  \ in the insurance). We would like to stress that the right to the cash benefit\
  \ can only be acquired by an unemployed person whose employment relationship has\
  \ not been terminated through no fault of his/her own or his/her own volition and\
  \ who, of course, fulfils the other conditions laid down by the law.  On the other\
  \ hand, cash social assistance is intended for people who, for reasons beyond their\
  \ control, find themselves in a situation of hardship. This form of assistance is\
  \ intended to help them find a way out of the situation in which they find themselves.\
  \ Cash social assistance is therefore available to people who do not have sufficient\
  \ resources to support themselves, provided that they are actively addressing their\
  \ social problems. In the context of active employment policy measures, recipients\
  \ of cash benefits and recipients of social assistance are targeted groups of people\
  \ who can be prioritised for public works.  Taking into account the structural problems\
  \ of the labour market (e.g. educational, age structure) and the number of registered\
  \ unemployed persons (115 608 registered unemployed persons in February 2011), the\
  \ proposal is also unfeasible from the point of view of the feasibility of including\
  \ all unemployed persons in public works, as well as from the point of view of securing\
  \ the resources of the budget of the Republic of Slovenia for the implementation\
  \ and co-financing of public works to the extent proposed.  The Ministry of Labour,\
  \ Family and Social Affairs will first of all, in the framework of the preparation\
  \ and implementation of active employment policy measures and within the limits\
  \ of the available budgetary resources for labour market policies, strive to activate\
  \ as many unemployed persons as possible who find it difficult to find suitable\
  \ employment on the labour market, and at the same time promote the development\
  \ of services for the public good, which will be targeted at vulnerable groups of\
  \ users (disabled, elderly)."
response date: 2011-03-09
response due date: null
sent date: 2011-01-10
title: PUBLIC WORKS FOR THE UNEMPLOYED
upvotes: 10
url: https://predlagam.vladi.si/predlog/1385
