Hundreds of thousands of vocational training (FP) students have work placement agreements in the air. From January 1, any student in practice must be registered with Social Security to start contributing, according to the new regulations. They are considered professionals and the days worked at work are incorporated into the student's working life with the effects of retirement.
This measure will affect 1.1 million VET students (and one million university students), who will start paying contributions in 2024. It affects unpaid internships, since dual training already entails a contractual relationship. The cost is subsidized at 95%, and the remaining 5% will be covered by the central government in 2024.
In principle, it must be registered by the company where the student goes, but the rule (additional provision 52 of the pension reform) makes it clear that, exceptionally, the educational center can take it on. "Compliance with Social Security obligations will correspond to the company, institution or entity where the internships are carried out, unless the agreement or cooperation agreement that, in its case, is signed for the internships it appears that these obligations will correspond to the training center responsible for the training offer", the provision indicates.
Following the companies' reluctance, the universities have assumed the huge management and will pay the cost, which will then be subsidized. With a commitment to the students, but reluctantly, since they did not participate in the drafting of the standard and now come across many different cases (workers who are studying, for example).
Large companies, those that need staff of a certain profile or those that are committed to training have taken it on.
But the 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 and student). With the registrations they have, it is an appreciable sum, even if it is only an advance. In addition, after the new VET law the administrative tasks have already multiplied, given that students have to spend a period of practice in the first and second year (previously it was the second year), which has forced the teachers to look for more job opportunities in the area this year. And, in the event that they are in charge of management, the bureaucracy would be unsustainable, apart from the fact that many doubts are raised. For example, what happens to students who already work or those who do not have residence papers, but who, in the condition of vulnerability, study?
About to close the doors for the Christmas holidays, on December 21, the teachers do not know what will be done with the students who are already doing internships or who will start in January. In addition, the rule indicates that the Social Security must be notified ten days in advance. That means December 21st.
Some autonomous administrations have assumed everything, to avoid problems in educational centers. Others, the majority, expect the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training to grant them a second moratorium (the measure was supposed to start in September and was postponed). Among these communities is Catalonia, which has the most FP students of all.
At Wednesday's Sectoral Conference, councilors demanded this extension citing technical problems. The director general of the Social Security Treasury attended 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 contribute next year. As he pointed out, there are already more than 300,000 young people registered for internships by January 1. Another meeting has been called for Monday.
In Catalonia, around 150,000 students (and 600,000 university students) study vocational training. The Generalitat will take over the management of young people doing internships in the public administration. But the town councils, the education (schools) and health (hospitals) services are pending. Some large companies have also accepted the quotation, but not SMEs, which are the majority in the business fabric.
Some companies, taking into account the rule, have sent communications to institutes to indicate that they need to know before December 18 the student's situation in the company and that, otherwise, they will declare the agreement as terminated. The institutes explain to La Vanguardia that others, professionals or small businesses, know nothing about it. Dentists, insurance brokers, restaurants, mechanical workshops...
Faced with the anxiety generated and the request for information from the managements and teachers (practices are included in the curriculum, have a calendar and are necessary to obtain the degree), the Department of Education sent them a letter on Tuesday in what prompted them to collect the Social Security number of all students, which has meant mobilizing teachers to help young people get it.
Yesterday, the center directors met with the Administration and the ministry told them that the measure is being negotiated and that they will not receive final instructions until December 18. In the midst of this confusion, the deputy director general of FP, Esteve Juanola-Feliu, has left the position he assumed in September.
