New system of financial aid for freelancers to be finalised next week

The Catalan government is finalizing a new mechanism for granting financial aid to self-employed workers. Freelancers seeking the support will have to register in an online portal that will be open for a number of days. 

The move comes after the controversy of the executive’s previous system of awarding financial benefits to self-employed workers, which failed when too many people attempted to access the system at one time, and aid was awarded by order of presentation. 

Earlier in November, the government apologized for the IT failures. Susana Segovia of the left-wing Catalunya en Comú - Podem was among those who criticized the government's handling of the emergency aid.

"The way they've managed these benefits is a failure. They're poorly thought out, designed, and enforced," she said.

Pere Aragonès, Catalan vice president acting as president, along with ministers Meritxell Budó, Chakir El Homrani, and Jordi Puigneró met on Saturday morning to continue working on the design of the new system, which aims to facilitate the access to new financial aid. 

The mechanism is still being worked on and the Government intends to take it to the executive council next Tuesday for finalisation and approval and put the system to use in the following days.