Posted on Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at 1:10 p.m.
About 10% of temporary unemployment files submitted to Capac (Auxiliary Fund for the Payment of Unemployment Benefits) could not be processed immediately, Pierre-Yves Dermagne told the Chamber on Tuesday.
–
–
The Federal Minister of the Economy was questioned in the Social Affairs Committee on the delays in payment of unemployment benefits noted within this federal public body, responsible, with the unions, for processing these requests.
“At the start of the crisis, we could understand. But nine months have passed. We had time to adapt. The problems persist, however. It’s irresponsible, ”said Björn Anseeuw (N-VA). “Goodwill is not going to be enough. Do we realize what this means for these 10%? We could really have taken the lead knowing that the situation was not going to improve, ”said Nadia Moscufo (PTB). These delays also raised questions within the federal majority. “I get emails from people telling me that they are not even being answered. And I do not know what to say to them, ”illustrated Marie-Colline Leroy (Ecolo).
Pierre-Yves Dermagne indicated in his response that he was working to reduce the delay. “164,000 employers have resorted to temporary unemployment which affected 1.6 million workers”, he recalled. “In April 2020, the volume of requests has thus been multiplied by 57! Measures have been taken and 70 new employees have been recruited ”, specified the Socialist Minister. “The capability also called on students and the ‘special federal forces’,” a mechanism that increases the internal mobility of federal civil servants.
For 2021, Capac has asked to again receive funds from the federal corona provision in order to extend fixed-term contracts and provide for additional recruitments, in particular at the call-center which receives some 10,000 calls per day on average, added The Minister. “Currently, it would take 29 hours a day to respond to everyone, which is obviously impossible.”
Despite measures to automate the processing of requests, 10% of cases could not be processed immediately. “These are cases that require manual processing by an expert in unemployment regulations. These are complicated or incomplete files. Sometimes the claimant was not entitled to certain allowances. There are also cases which should not have been introduced. Capac has put in place the means to have contact with these people ”, indicated Mr. Dermagne, referring in particular to specific situations in the cultural or event sector.
The instruction was given by the federal government not to sanction a late request.
The month of January is traditionally complicated. Pierre-Yves Dermagne hopes for an improvement for February.
– .
