Brussels-Capital Region - Employment aid (4): Activa reduced capacity for work

The new employment subsidies of the Brussels Capital Region will enter into force on 1 October 2017.

These subsidies consist of 3 activation measures (= deduction of a benefit from the monthly net wage) and a premium:

• Generic Activa Brussels
• Reduced work capacity Activa Brussels
• Employment integration contract
• Training premium

To have access to one of the 3 activations, the employee must reside in the Brussels Capital Region. So you are entitled to this measure irrespective of the location of your registered office or your places of business. These must not necessarily be located in the Brussels Capital Region to be entitled to the generic Activa Brussels measure, the reduced work capacity Activa Brussels or the employment integration contract.

The 4th measure is a reduction in employer contributions to the social security that entered into force on 1 October 2016: the reduction for older employees (see our infoflash of 23 August 2016).

In contrast to the activation measures the employee must mainly be employed in the Brussels Capital Region in order to open the right to this reduction in social security contributions, irrespective of his place of residence.

This infoflash provides details on the ‘Activa reduced capacity for work’ measure.

Who can recruit under this measure?

Every employer of the private (profit or non-profit) or public sector can benefit this measure, except for:

1° University educational institutions, for recruiting academic and scientific members of staff;

2° Educational institutions other than university educational institutions, for recruiting teaching staff;

3° The federal state, including the judiciary, the Council of State, the army and the federal police;

4° The Communities or Regions, with the exception of an educational establishment, for a worker not referred to under 1° and 2°;

5° The Flemish Community Commission, the French-speaking Community Commission and the Common Community Commission;

6° Public interest organisations or public institutions under the authority of the entities referred to in 3° and 4°, with the exception of:

• Public credit institutions;
• Independent state-owned companies;
• State-owned public transport companies;
• Public institutions for staff that they recruit as temporary agency workers to hire out;
• Educational establishments for a worker not referred to in 1° and 2°.

Who can be recruited?

The work allowance can be activated by persons who satisfy all of the following conditions on the day prior to the start of their employment or at the time the Activa Brussels card is applied for:

• be domiciled in the Brussels-Capital Region;
• non-working jobseeker registered with Actiris since 1 day;
• have a reduced capacity for work.
• no longer be subject to the (full-time or part-time) compulsory school attendance and not yet having reached the legal pensionable age.

A jobseeker with a reduced capacity for work is:

• a non-working jobseeker satisfying the medical conditions to be entitled to an income substitution benefit or an integration allowance (according to the act on the allowances for disabled persons);
• a non-working jobseeker working as an employee of the target group for an employer of JC 327;
• a non-working jobseeking disabled person opening the right to increased child benefits on the basis of physical or mental incapacity of at least 66%;
• a non-working jobseeker holding a certificate delivered by the General Direction Disabled Persons of the FPS Social Security for the attribution of social and fiscal benefits;
• an unemployed person justifying a permanent incapacity for work of at least 33%, recognized by the medical officer of the ONEm/RVA.

The employee’s contract

The employee must be employed under an employment contract.

Benefit

Your benefit consists in the activation of a work allowance: you are allowed to deduct a specific amount from the employee’s monthly net wage.

This amount is:

Monthly amount of full-time work allowance	Duration of allowance
€750	Month of entrance into service + 11 months
€600	From the 13th month + next 23 months

Formalities

Activa Brussels card reduced capacity

The employee must provide you with a valid ‘Activa Brussels card reduced capacity’. If he does not dispose hereof at the time of his recruitment, he must submit an application by means of the application form that is available on the website of Actiris (www.actiris.be), at the latest on the 30th day following the start date of his employment.

The ‘Activa Brussels card reduced capacity’ is valid for a 12-month period. The recruitment must take place during this period of validity.

Annex to the Activa Brussels employment contract

The employee must then submit the benefit application form ('Annex to the Activa Brussels employment contract available on www.actiris.be) at the start of his employment and at the latest within 4 months prior to the beginning of the month of his employment through his payment institution, together with a copy of his employment contract or the annex to the original employment contract. 

Social Risk Declaration

At the end of each month you must complete the DRS/ASR scenario 8 (code 20/21).

What in case of successive employment contracts?

The activation of the 'Activa Brussels reduced capacity for work’ shall not be granted to an employee who is recruited by an employer in the course of the 12 months after he has left that employer (or group of employers).

When the initial contract that opened the right is extended:

• at the same conditions
• without interruption (weekends and public holidays between two employments are not considered as interruptions)
• by an annex

the benefits are maintained according to the same conditions provided that the awarding period is not used up.  

What if the employee moves?

When the employee moves in the course of the employment and does no longer reside in the Brussels Capital Region, Actiris will no longer grant the activation benefit. You can then no longer deduct the work allowance from the employee’s net wage.

We therefore advise you to urge your employee who opens the right to the 'Activa Brussels reduced capacity for work’ measure to immediately inform you when he moves to another region.

Sources: Order of 23 June 2017 on available employment aid programmes in the Brussels Capital Region, Belgian Official Gazette 14.07.2017; decree of the Brussels Capital Region of 14 September 2017 with regard to the activation measures for jobseekers, Belgian Official Gazette 21.09.2017.