– The government, together with the parliamentary parties, has stretched a very large safety net, but it is clear that there are companies and shops that are under heavy pressure.
– This is an adjustment that can help keep your hand under small shops that are having a hard time, he says at a doorstep on Friday.
What the adjustment should look like is up to the political negotiations that begin on Friday with the parliamentary parties. The government expects an agreement early next week.
Bourgeois parties have spoken in favor of increasing the possibility of compensation by 7,000 kroner. Today, the self-employed can apply for DKK 23,000, while employees can receive up to DKK 30,000 in compensation.
The experience is that the government has so far been hesitant to equate the compensation. But Bødskov is now in a positive mood.
This is due to the length of the closure, and the fact that the latest figures from Statistics Denmark show that many small self-employed people have gradually used up their savings and overdraft facilities. Therefore, the government is keen on a minor adjustment.
The government has so far been skeptical of the proposal because the self-employed have the opportunity to work, even if they receive compensation. Employees do not have that option.
Not everyone who receives salary compensation reaches the limit of 30,000 kroner.
According to the government, full-time employees receive an average of DKK 22,000 a month in salary compensation. It is smaller than the ceiling for the self-employed, which today is 23,000 kroner.
To begin with, the level for both groups was 23,000 kroner, but on 30 March last year, the government and the social partners chose to increase the scheme for employees to 30,000 kroner.
Therefore, business spokesman Torsten Schack (V) believes that it is fair to increase the ceiling for the self-employed, even if they have to work at the same time.
– We have demanded it since the wage compensation was raised to 30,000 kroner. There is a parallelism and that, we think, is perfectly fair, he says.
He believes the government has been pressured to enter into an agreement because a number of parties have been pushing.
The Radicals believe it is time to equate the schemes.
– We are concerned that a large number of self-employed and small and medium-sized companies do not have the money to make it through the closure, and this is a problem for the companies and those who are employed there, says finance spokesman Andreas Steenberg (R).
The government will also open up for a “click and collect” model, where customers can order goods from smaller stores and pay at pick-up, just as you know from take away.
Many smaller stores do not have an online payment solution.
Business organizations have long advocated raising the rate for the self-employed.
– We receive inquiries daily from small self-employed people who are under severe financial pressure. Among our forcibly closed members, such as hairdressers, used car dealers and small shops, about 30 percent fear bankruptcy.
– So it is a financial helping hand that falls in a dry place, says CEO Jakob Brandt from SMVdanmark, which organizes 18,000 small and medium-sized companies.
Source: The Nordic Page