Council approves direct aid package worth 1,000 euros for new self-employed
Some 30,000 euros of direct aid has been allocated from the municipal budget.
Monday 28th December 2020 | MIKE SMITH
The council has approved unanimously a new package of economic aid worth 1,000 euros to those who became self-employed or started a new business during 2020, a year which created extraordinary difficulties for business due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The subsidy will be made available to any unemployed person who registered as self-employed or started a new business between March 1st and December 31st 2020, despite the adverse circumstances that the economy has experienced this year.
A budget of 30,000 euros has been set aside for the direct aid, which is available to individual self-employed, collaborating self-employed and self-employed in a civil or commercial society. The terms and conditions of application can be consulted on the municipal website and once the consultation phase is over, the Council will inform on the start of the application period and how to request this aid.
This is the third package of direct aid that has been offered by the town hall in Xàbia since the beginning of the COVID-19 health crisis. The first package allocated some 523,500 euros from the municipal budget to provide aid worth some 1,500 euros to self-employed residents working in sectors that had to close during the first months of the crisis; there were a total of 346 successful applicants. The second package, which included funding from the Provincial Council of Alicante – provided assistance to 17 applying companies which had seen their turnover reduced by 50% during the same period.
Other measures which have been adopted to support the local economy has been the abolition of the public highway occupancy tax for 2020 and 2021, the suspension of opening license rates for 2021, as well as campaigns to stimulate local purchasing and tourism promotion.
On the Social Services side, some 2.8 million euros has been provided for direct aid to meet the needs of those who have been most affected by the pandemic, two social employment plans have provided work for 76 people whilst regional initiatives have employed a further 15 people, as well as payment facilities for paying local taxes such as IBI and fees that have been established, as well as water bills.
