Brussels-Capital Region: let us know if you employ workers under the ECOSOC measure

Since 1 January 2021, the Brussels-Capital Region grants a premium for “providing a job for the unemployed in the social economy” to certain employers who recruit unemployed jobseekers who are domiciled in the Brussels-Capital Region.

This new measure replaces the PTP and SINE measures that were repealed on 31 December 2020 (refer to our infoflash of 12.11.2020).

Are you entitled to this premium?

If you were employing workers under a PTP or SINE measure on that date, Actiris contacted you to inform you of this new measure, also called "ECOSOC".

If this is not the case and you wish to benefit from this premium, we inform you that you are entitled to it if you are a Brussels-based social enterprise mandated as an enterprise providing jobs for the unemployed.

For more details about the procedure for recognition as a social enterprise and the mandate, please consult the website economie emploi brussels.

What is the amount of the premium?

There are two "ECOSOC" premiums:

• The transitioning premium (article 2) amounts to 33,000 Euro per year for a full-time worker. It is granted for a maximum period of 2 years.
• The premium for providing jobs for the unemployed (article 3) amounts to 10,000 Euro per year for a full-time worker. It is granted for a maximum period of 5 years.

The amount of the premium shall be reduced in proportion to the worker's working time, without it being less than half-time.

This premium is paid to you monthly by Actiris. So every month you receive 1/12th of 10,000 Euro or of 33,000 Euro (for a full-time job). At the end of the quarter, Actiris will proceed to a regularisation on the basis of your Dmfa declaration to the National Social Security Office.

The premium covers the wage bill, consisting of:

• the gross salary of the worker;
• the employer’s social security contributions;
• the end-of-year bonus;
• the holiday pay.

Who do you have to recruit to be entitled to the premium?

Gives entitlement to the premium, the jobseeker who:

• is domiciled in the Brussels Capital Region
• is registered as an unemployed jobseeker with Actiris

And:

• does not hold a certificate or diploma of lower secondary education;
• OR has been registered with Actiris as an unemployed jobseeker for at least 2 years within the last 3 years prior to commencing employment AND does not hold a certificate or diploma of higher secondary education;
• OR has a reduced capacity for work;
• OR is part of the target groups and receives guidance under the APS measures (support for groups with specific problems) and NEETs (young people neither in education, nor at work, nor in training) as defined by Actiris or as defined within the framework of the partnerships developed by Actiris.
  
   

The jobseeker must be in possession of an Actiris certificate (A6 certificate) at the time of his recruitment, proving that he fulfils the conditions to qualify for the ECOSOC premium.

What must you do?

You must:

• provide Actiris with the employment contract within a month of its signing, as well as proof of the individual plan of providing jobs for the unemployed per worker;
• notify your Payroll Consultant of the recruitment of workers under the ECOSOC premium. Your NSSO declarations must contain a specific code "Regional employment aid" for these workers. On the basis of this mention in your DMFA declaration to the NSSO, Actiris will proceed to the quarterly regularisation of your premium.

Sources: Decree of the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region of 16 May 2019 on the measure aimed at providing jobs for the unemployed in the social economy”, Belgian Official Gazette 5 June 2019: www.actiris.be