Annual schedule of legislative changes
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- Income security
- Law change
The first legislative changes in 2024 will gradually begin to show in the decisions we make and the daily allowances we pay. The following changes appear between April and May and the rest during the summer and autumn.
The impact of the legislative changes can be seen in the earnings-related daily allowances we pay and decisions we make. When earnings-related daily allowance is always applied for retroactively, most changes in the law are only slightly delayed in relation to the entry into force of the laws and the beginning of their application.
In winter, payments and decisions show the freezing of the index increase, a change in the waiting period, and the periodicity of holiday compensation. In the spring, the removal of the child increase and the protective amount will reduce the payments. Job alternation leave ceases in the summer and there will be changes to the working condition and the staggering of earnings-related daily allowance in the autumn.
All legislative amendments have not yet been adopted as such, so they may still be subject to amendments. We will keep you informed as the legislation progresses.
Current News Now
The current changes are the abolition of the exempt amount and child increase. Both will apply from the beginning of April. From April onwards, we will no longer take into account the exempt amount for new adjustment periods. At the same time, child increases will also be abolished for everyone.
The first time both changes will typically be seen in May, when we pay the April earnings-related daily allowance.
Winter
Freezing the index
Detecting the freezing of the index increase is difficult because it is shown in such a way that the amount of earnings-related daily allowance does not change. Normally, the index is used to check the level of earnings-related daily allowance to reflect changes in the general price level. When prices have risen last year, earnings-related daily allowance would also normally have risen by around 15-20 euros per month. When the index is now frozen, it means that no changes have been made to the earnings-related daily allowance. You will not be paid less earnings-related daily allowance than before. There is no increase in your earnings-related allowance that corresponds to the general increase in prices.
Periodicity of holiday compensation
If your employment relationship has ended in January 2024 or later, and you have been paid holiday compensation for unsolicited holidays, we cannot pay you earnings-related daily allowance for the same period. This, too, will increasingly become apparent in February as we make decisions from January.
Once you have been paid holiday compensation, we will calculate how many working days the compensation will correspond to. For a similar period, we cannot pay you earnings-related daily allowance. For example, if you are paid a holiday compensation equal to two weeks, we cannot pay you earnings-related daily allowance for two weeks.
The periodicity of holiday compensation and the waiting period do not overlap. Depending on the holiday compensation, this may lead to the fact that we may not be able to pay earnings-related daily allowance at all for the first application period.
The maximum payment period is not affected by the periodicity of the holiday compensation.
Waiting period
The extension of the waiting period will be visible if a new waiting period has been set for you in January. In practice, this can be seen now if you are unemployed in January. The earnings-related allowance we paid for the first application period is lower than before. Previously, the waiting period was equal to five days and now it is seven days. For example, if the application period has 23 payment days and you have a new waiting period set, we can pay earnings-related daily allowance for a maximum of 16 days. Before the amendment, we could have paid for 18 days. However, the longer waiting period is only visible in payments when it is set. The maximum payment period is not affected by the length of the waiting period.
Spring
Removal of child increase
As a result of the amendment, we will no longer pay child increases to the earnings-related daily allowance as of 1.4.2024. In practice, this does not appear in payments until the following month, i.e. in May, when we pay most people daily allowance for April.
Eliminating child increases reduces the earnings-related daily allowance paid to you by 130 – 240 euros per month, depending on the number of children. This is a big change that you should start preparing for now if possible.
In practice, the change only applies to those applicants who have underage children as dependants. This is the case for about 30% of applicants.
Removal of the exempt amount
The exempt amount is the amount of euros that we do not take into account when adjusting earnings-related daily allowance and income paid for part-time work. Such a 300 € protective amount has made it easier to seize even the smallest job opportunities. Now this exempt amount will be removed during April.
We apply the change when you have an income from working part-time on or after 1.4.2024. The most common situation is such that in practice you will notice a change when we pay earnings-related daily allowance for April in May. Especially if you have already worked part-time in a more established way, you will find that the amount of earnings-related daily allowance decreases.
The removal of the exempt amount affects how we calculate the amount of the adjusted daily allowance. Therefore, the exact euro impact of the change for you will depend on the amount of your earnings. The change will reduce the benefit payable by up to 150 € per month. This means that if before the change in the law, income from part-time work reduces your earnings-related daily allowance by, for example, 350 €, after the change in the law the reduction could be 500 €, i.e. 150 € more.
Summer
Supporting employment
Our job is to provide our members with income security. So far, we have not been allowed to do anything else. With the change in the law, we will also be given the opportunity to support your employment in various ways.
The law will enter into force quickly, as the provision of services to support employment will remain voluntary for funds. With a short time between the enactment of the law and its entry into force, we will not have a fully comprehensive range of new services to offer at the same pace. Therefore, the practical impact of this change will only be felt in the slightly longer term.
Discontinuation of alternation leave
Job alternation leave will be abolished as of 1.8.2024. The change is coming into effect so that if the conditions are met, you can start your alternation leave on 31.7.2024. Job alternation leave started in July can continue normally for the entire maximum 180 calendar days. On or after 1.8.2024, no new alternation leave can be started and we will no longer award new alternation compensations from then on.
The effect is visible on the date as soon as new alternation-frees can no longer be granted. We also expect that the number of alternation-free applications will increase during the first half of the year.
Around 5,000 people have taken alternation leave each year. Over the years, the conditions for alternation leave have been tightened so that its use has already decreased significantly in the past.
Autumn
Staggering of earnings-related daily allowance
Starting next autumn, the amount of earnings-related daily allowance will be staggered. The staggering would take place in such a way that the earnings-related daily allowance would decrease
- to 80% of the original after 40 days, i.e. about two months, and
- to 75% of the original after 170 days, i.e. eight months
We will then apply the staggering to your employment condition, which can include work in accordance with the new euroised model for the period September 2024 or later.
Depending on your situation, there can be a great deal of variation as to when staggering in your case will affect the amount of earnings-related daily allowance. The earliest effect can be seen in November-December 2024. This requires that you meet the euroised employment condition as soon as September.
With an average earnings-related daily allowance (approx. 1,700€/month), the first tier will reduce your earnings-related daily allowance by about 350 euros per month, and the second tier will add another 85 euros, so that the total effect after the second tier will be on average about 435 euros per month.
Pay subsidy does not accrue the working condition
After the amendment, paid-subsidised work no longer accrues the working condition.
Paid-subsidised work no longer accrues the working condition if the paid-subsidised work begins on or after 2.9.2024.
Even after the amendment to the law, paid-subsidised work could exceptionally accumulate the working condition when the pay subsidy is paid for hiring people with reduced ability to work. However, the exception is quite strict, as the working condition would only accrue in such a situation after 10 months of pay subsidy. Even after that, only 75% of the working time would accrue the working condition.
However, when paid-subsidised work is no longer taken into account in the working condition, it extends the review period, i.e. the period for which we can take the work into account in the working condition at all.
In the past, pay subsidies have been used extensively to support the long-term unemployed and the unemployed who are approaching retirement age.
Discontinuation of age-related exceptions
In the autumn, exceptions based on age are being removed from the Unemployment Security Act. The most significant age exceptions in earnings-related daily allowance are the so-called protection rule and the possibility to accumulate a working condition in a service promoting employment.
These changes are to be applied when work can be included in your employment condition in accordance with the new euroised model for the period September 2024 or later.
The protection rule has protected the level of your earnings-related daily allowance in situations where you have fulfilled the employment condition after reaching the age of 58 and your employment condition has been met in lower-paid work than before. So, as an elderly person, you have been able to accept work that is lower than your previous job without the level of your earnings-related daily allowance having decreased from it.
In practice, the timing of the impact depends on the stage at which the new condition regarding employment is met and the earnings-related daily allowance is recalculated.
Extending the working condition
As of next autumn, the new law requires you to have accumulated twelve months of work during the 28 months preceding the month in which you were a member of the unemployment fund in order to meet the working condition. Before the law change, the requirement was 26 calendar weeks, or about six months.
The change will especially affect people at the beginning of their careers and those whose careers are interrupted and it is difficult to find a permanent employment relationship. In practice, earnings-related daily allowance will be slightly slower to reach in the future.
Earnings-related allowances already granted will not be affected by this change.
Euroisation of the working condition
In addition to the extension of the working condition, we will move to the euroised working condition next autumn. In the future, you will collect working conditions in euros paid for paid work, and no longer in the hours you work.
We will apply this change from 2.9. 2024. As a rule, the euroised working condition of employment corresponds to the current system. In other words, you will receive an earnings-related daily allowance similar to the one you received before the amendment. In practice, therefore, the change in the direction of the applicant is minor. In exceptional circumstances, a euroised working condition may require more specific advice than before.