Hundreds of thousands of Vocational Training (FP) students have their work practice agreements up in the air. As of January 1, any intern student must be registered with Social Security to begin contributing, according to the new regulations. They are considered professionals and the days contributed during work are incorporated into the student's working life with the effects of retirement. The question is who does the management.
This measure will affect 1.1 million vocational training students (and another million university students), who will begin to contribute in 2024. The cost is subsidized at 95% and the remaining 5% will be covered by the Government during 2024. It affects unpaid internships, since dual training already entails a contractual relationship.
In principle, the company where the student goes must register, but the rule (additional provision 52 of the pension reform) explains that, exceptionally, the educational center can assume it. “Compliance with Social Security obligations will be the responsibility of the company, institution or entity in which they are carried out, unless the agreement or cooperation agreement that, where applicable, is signed for their implementation provides that such obligations will correspond to the training center responsible for the training offer,” indicates the provision.
Given the reluctance of companies, the universities have assumed the enormous management and will pay the cost that will later be subsidized. With commitment to their students but reluctantly because they have not participated in the development of this standard and now they encounter many different cases (workers who are studying, for example).
Large companies or those that need personnel with a certain profile or are committed to training have accepted.
But FP is something else. The centers cannot assume it. They have small administrative structures and a tight budget (they should pay the equivalent of 0.40 euros per day per student). With the registrations they have, it is an appreciable amount, even if it is only an advance.
Furthermore, after the new vocational training law, administrative tasks have already multiplied, since students must undergo an internship period in the first and second year (before it was second year), which has forced teachers to look for more opportunities in this year. jobs in the environment. And, if it were to take charge of management, the bureaucracy would be unsustainable. Apart from the fact that multiple doubts arise. For example, what happens to students who are already working or those who do not have residency papers but who, in their vulnerable condition, are studying.
About to close their doors for Christmas holidays, on December 21, teachers do not know what will happen to their students who are already in internships or who will begin them in January. In addition, the rule indicates that Social Security must be notified 10 days in advance. This is December 21st.
Some regional administrations have taken on everything, to avoid problems for educational centers. Others, the majority, are waiting for the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training to grant them a second moratorium (the measure was to begin in September and was postponed). Among these is Catalonia, the autonomous community with the most FP students of all.
At the Sector Conference held on Wednesday, the councilors demanded this extension citing technical problems. The general director of the Social Security Treasury was present at this meeting and recalled that 172 meetings have been held to clarify technical issues, but that he would continue to maintain contact with the administrations to resolve doubts since the order is final: young trainees must quote next year. There are already, as he pointed out, more than 300,000 registrations of young people in internships as of January 1. A new meeting is scheduled for next Monday.
In Catalonia, some 150,000 students (and 600,000 university students) are receiving vocational training. The Generalitat will assume the management of young people who do internships in the public administration. But town councils, education services (schools) and health services (hospitals) are still pending. Some large companies have also accepted the quote, but not SMEs, which are the majority in the business community.
Some companies, aware of the rule, have sent communications to the institutes indicating that they need to know before December 18 the situation of the student in their company and that, if not, they will consider the agreement terminated. The institutes explain to La Vanguardia that others, professionals or small businesses, know nothing about all this. Dentists, insurance brokers, restaurants, mechanical workshops...
Given the concern generated, and the request for information by the management and teachers (the internships are included in the study plan, are scheduled and are necessary to obtain the degree), the Department of Education sent them a letter on Tuesday in the which urges them to collect the Social Security number of all their students, which has meant mobilizing teachers to help young people achieve this.
Yesterday, Thursday, the center directors met with the administration, and the department told them that the measure is being negotiated and that they will not receive definitive instructions until Monday, December 18.
In the midst of this confusion, the deputy director general of FP, Esteve Juanola-Feliu, has left the position he assumed last September.
