Many Tenerife Workers Unaware of SEPE Wage Supplement

Many workers in Tenerife don't realise they can get financial help from the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) even if they're working. This extra income allows people to top up their wages and help them get by each month, as long as their total income stays within limits set by Social Security.

SEPE has highlighted the Employment Support Supplement (CAE) as a key part of the new unemployment benefit system. This help is for people who start a job while still getting unemployment benefits. It's designed to make it easier to get back into work without losing all financial support at once. You don't apply for it; it's given automatically. It also affects how long you receive benefits and how much you get.

The CAE is SEPE's way of letting you combine unemployment benefits with a job, whether that's full-time or part-time. Instead of stopping your benefit, it becomes an extra payment added to your wages for a set period.

You get this extra payment from day one as an employment support supplement. This applies if you qualify for a benefit after your regular unemployment payments run out, or if you stopped working after contributing for 90 to 359 days. Once you start receiving it, it won't be stopped just because you're employed.

To receive the benefit as an employment support supplement, you must meet these requirements set by SEPE:

You don't choose to get the CAE; SEPE gives it automatically. However, in some special cases where it's not suitable, you must inform the authorities.

How much you get from the supplement depends on two things: which quarter of your benefit period you start working, and your agreed working hours. The amounts are worked out as a percentage of the IPREM (a national reference index) and are given as approximate monthly figures.

In the first quarter, the CAE can reach:

As time goes on, the amounts gradually decrease. From the fifth quarter onwards, they range from 120 euros for full-time work down to 30 euros for working less than 50% of full-time hours.

Every day you get the supplement counts towards your total benefit duration, no matter the amount. The CAE can last for a maximum of 180 days, which you can use across one or more suitable job contracts.

If you keep your job for more than three months while getting the benefit, you'll need to ask for an extension to keep receiving the supplement. If you don't want to continue receiving it, you can wait until your contract ends to request the extension, as long as it's within the given deadlines. It's important to know that any money you earn while getting the CAE won't count towards your income or family responsibility limits. This means you won't lose your right to restart benefits later on.

Once you've used up the 180 days of the supplement, your benefit will be paused if you still have time left on it. You can only restart it if you become legally unemployed again. However, after reaching that 180-day limit, you cannot combine the same benefit with another job again.

In summary, the Employment Support Supplement is a key part of SEPE's system. It's designed to make the first few months of returning to work less financially uncertain and to provide more economic stability as people move back into employment.