Covid-19. Ombudsman urges Social Security to pay extraordinary support to companies

The Ombudsman once again addressed the President of the Institute of Social Security (ISS) to request that he proceed with the payment to companies of requests for extraordinary support for the progressive resumption of activity, formulated since December, which are still pending confirmation by the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) of the requirement related to the drop in invoicing.

After having alerted the Government at the beginning of March to the delays that the difficulties in articulation between the two entities were causing in the attribution of support, the Ombudsman notes that the situation has still not been overcome, and there are companies that have been several months (some for more than five months) without receiving the expected support.

In this new communication, the Ombudsman expresses great concern with the situation of the companies and their workers, proposing to the ISS that it proceed with the payment of all the support relative to 2021, without prejudice to later confirmation of the drop in invoicing indicated, in order to avoid more serious consequences in terms of the solvency of the companies and the maintenance of the work contracts. “It is important that the consequences of a deficient administrative action do not have a more serious impact on the legal status of the applicants,” he stressed.

The problem covers cases in which a disparity was identified, as recently as 2020, between the percentage of falling turnover indicated by the applicants and that recorded in the AT. Although the companies have been notified to return the support in question and have corrected the applications, they are still waiting for the decision of all subsequent applications, which are dependent on further validation by the AT.