Single benefit forces young people with disabilities or cancer to work

The government’s proposal for the creation of the new Single Benefit, scheduled to come into force on January 1, 2027, provides that unemployed young people with disabilities or cancer may have to complete up to 15 hours of social work to access support.

However, the Government intends for situations to be assessed case by caseaccording to each person’s ability.

According to , this obligation is foreseen for scenarios in which the person with a disability is the direct beneficiary of the PSU, but also when the beneficiary is someone from the household. Only people who present a degree of disability equal to or greater than 80%.

Portuguese legislation recognizes anyone with a disability as a person with a disability. equal to or greater than 60%However, the PSU proposal only excludes cases of disability above 80% from the social work obligation

The assigned activities must be compatible with the capabilities and qualifications of those involved. According to the Government, this formulation allows “safeguard” situations in which people with a disability of less than 80% are unable to carry out any activity, and must always be assessed on a case-by-case basis by the manager who will monitor the process.

Furthermore, the proposal also provides that the obligation to carry out social work may apply not only to PSU beneficiaries but also to unemployed members of the respective household aged between 18 and 25 years. Thus, a person with a disability may be called upon to participate in these activities even if you do not receive the benefit directly.

A Portuguese Association of the Disabled (APD) criticized the proposal, which provides for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the work regime associated with the PSU. The vice-president of the association, Helena Ratoclassified the measure as “huge nonsense”, for imposing a “universalist” framework on situations that, from his perspective, should be assessed individually.

The introduction of PSU is expected to have an additional budgetary impact between 30 and 40 million eurosdue to the reinforcement of employment incentives.

The proposal together 13 social benefitssuch as the Social Insertion Income (RSI) and the Solidarity Supplement for the Elderly (CSI). If approved, it will transfer, from next year, 125 thousand people who currently receive social support for the new social benefit.