What unemployment benefits are available for the self-employed?

The benefit for the self-employed for cease of activity is a specific system of economic protection for self-employed workers who have completely stopped working in the activity they registered to do under the special system, either definitively or temporarily.

Who can access the unemployment benefit?

Workers who are registered with the Special Self-Employed Workers System who meet the following requirements:

• They are registered under the Special Self-Employed Workers System or the Special Marine Workers System and are covered for cease of activity on the date they stop working
• They had been covered for the continuous twelve-month waiting period immediately prior to the cease of activity
• They have legally stopped working and have signed an activity commitment
• They have not reached the ordinary age of retirement, giving them the right to a contribution-based pension, unless they have not covered the contribution period required for it
• They must be current on their contributions to the Social Security system

How can the self-employed access this benefit?

The following circumstances qualify a person to receive this benefit:

• Economic, technical, production or organizational grounds (losses in a year of more than 10% in revenue, enforceable court or administrative decisions to collect debts comprising at least 30% of their revenue from the prior financial year, an insolvency filing that prevents continuing the activity)
• Causes of force majeure
• The loss of the necessary administrative licence to exercise the activity, whenever not due to a criminal violation
• Gender violence which led to the cease of activity
• Divorce or marital separation as per a court decision in situations where the self-employed worker held a position as a family-member assistant in the ex-spouse’s business which led to their inclusion in the self-employment system
• For Economically Dependent Workers (TRADE, as they are known by the Spanish acronym), the end of their contract or the end of the job or service they were working on, a serious contractual breach by the client, the retirement, death or incapacity of the client or the cancellation of the contractual relationship due to a justified or unjustified cause

What is the deadline for applying?

It ends on the final day of the month following the month of the cease of activity

What is the amount of the benefit?

Asepeyo pays 70% of the average contribution bases for the 12 months prior to the legal cease of activity situation.

Throughout this period during which the benefit is received, Asepeyo charges a contribution for common contingencies and there are also requirements concerning training, occupational orientation and encouragement to work measures by the regional public employment services.

And how long does it last?

How do you apply for this benefit?

The completed application should be submitted to any Asepeyo healthcare centre or customer service office along with the necessary documents to prove the alleged cause of the cease of activity.

The documents provided by Asepeyo are:

• The benefit application
• The sworn statement
• Communication of payer data (IRPF form 145)

and by the Spanish Public Employment Service:

• Employment application