Proposition 54K0095

Projet de loi établissant une reconnaissance des aidants proches.

General information ¶

Authors

MR Daniel Bacquelaine, David Clarinval, Stéphanie Thoron, Sybille de Coster-Bauchau

Submission date

July 18, 2014

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

family benefit pension scheme social-security benefit home care survivor's benefit leave on social grounds voluntary work unemployment self-employed person health insurance

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP DéFI Open Vld MR PVDA | PTB PP VB

Abstained from voting

∉ N-VA

Party dissidents ¶

• Peter Luykx (CD&V) abstained from voting.

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

April 24, 2019 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

The rapporteurs, Mr Delizée and Mr Vercamer, refer to the written report.

It is with great satisfaction that I see this proposal closing the debates of this end of the legislature.

At MR, we have always been ⁇ sensitive to the situation experienced by close caregivers on a daily basis. During the previous legislature, we had recognized and given a definition of what was closest to reality. But it was not really able to open specific rights related to this new status. It is precisely in this context that the MR group had, from the beginning of the legislature, submitted a proposal in this direction.

As you know, the current government worked on this matter before it got into ordinary affairs. Many parties had filed texts aimed at improving the situation of all those people who decide to put their professional life between parentheses to take care of a loved one.

By mutual agreement, we have decided to work together with the relevant ministers and cabinets. I take the opportunity to thank the Prime Minister, the Minister of Social Affairs, the Minister of Pensions and the Minister of the Middle Class for their involvement in this project.

From the memory of a parliamentary, this is the first time that a proposal that is the fruit of collective work comes on the table and can finally become concrete, not for us or for our ego, but for those thousands of people waiting for a real recognition of their precarious situation as well as the beginning of a real opening to social rights.

What will very concretely change for close caregivers is summarized as follows.

A close assistant shall be recognized as any person who provides continuous or regular assistance and support to the person assisted.

The aided person will no longer, as before, have to be in a situation of great dependence. Today, this aid is extended to all people in dependence situation and recognized with at least twelve points by the medical body.

A simple declaration of honour with the reciprocity of the person assisted will be sufficient as a formality to be recognized as a close assistant.

A close assistant who exercises an activity as an employee may suspend his activity either entirely or part-time, and this for a period of one month, which may be extended up to six months, if a royal decree deliberated in Council of Ministers was taken in this sense.

In the event that the close assistant is a person with disability to work, this assistant will have to undergo the analysis of the counseling physician, who will check whether the two situations are compatible.

Periods of suspension of work, insofar as they are recognised as such, shall be taken into account for the right to pension.

Finally, the most important thing is that the close assistant will receive an allocation as part of this support. This financial aid will be welcome in many situations.

You will have understood, dear colleagues, this is a major advance for those people who have been waiting for this recognition for too long. For now, this will only apply to employees. The same openness will have to be made for the benefit of the independent. In any case, the proposal also aims to evaluate this new thematic leave within a few years, so that it can be adjusted, supplemented or modified as needed, depending on the realities of the field.

These close caregivers, as they are called, have great value, not only socially, but also economically. Our support was more than a necessity. It became a moral obligation, which we fulfill today. My group and myself are delighted to be able to support this text.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to express my absolute appreciation for the fact that we are able to realize the proposed Chamberbreed. An average period of care lasts ten years, while we reach about four years or 51 months with the existing reasoned time credits. That is, on average, far from enough to bridge the care period, ⁇ not in situations where one has a child with a disability, a young dementing partner, and so on. It is in any case a win-win situation, because with the present proposal we make the combination of work and care viable and affordable and feasible.

The hands of caregivers are also free hands in care. If we were to replace them with nurses or caregivers, then studies — I have also done a study about them and written books about them in a past life — show that this would cost 23 billion euros a year. We need to take care of those free hands.

Working caregivers are also significantly more likely to get sick than non-working caregivers. There are studies on this as well. In other words, there are returns when one better supports coat caregivers and ⁇ working coat caregivers. This is definitely not something that costs the state money.

I have been teaching for almost five years with my bill that dust was collected and I am therefore happy that we have managed to set up a working group in ongoing matters. Then it is less important who may be the first applicant on the bill, if the breakthrough comes, and so it is.

I agree with my colleague, who said that it is absolutely not enough yet, but it is in any case a very important first step, with a benefit and equal rights for retirement. This is ⁇ a step forward.

Are there any other members asking for the floor? (No to)

Mr Minister, you have the floor.

Mr. Speaker, good steps are being taken today on the fallreep for the status of the mantel caregivers. I know that this problem was the opus magnum of Mrs. Dedry, but it was also a concern of many other colleagues. Every time we take steps forward and that’s a good thing, because, as Ms. Dedry says, garment caregivers are essential in our society and should be rewarded for that, not punished.