Do the measures work? 

The survey shows that the specific government policy to maintain employment in the cultural and creative sector not working. Work and payments are pushed forward (72.6%) and almost 70% of the self-employed/employed workers with temporary contracts do not receive any or only part of the agreed fee/salary (69.4%). Per worker, 16 weeks of planned work did not take place. 

The new TOZO scheme (TOZO-3) is no longer accessible to 65% of the self-employed who were eligible under TOZO-1. Approximately 25% of self-employed persons in the sector receive a TOZO-2 and/or TOZO-3. From the massive rescheduling of agreed work and the eventual failure to conclude contracts It can be concluded that little use is made of the NOW scheme to provide flexible workers with work.  pay. The TVL (Tegemoetkoming Vasteastenasten) offers 5.9% of the self-employed help. 51% does not receive TVL because company and private address are not separated. 

Shifting work and payments is not a sustainable model

Forward

Postponing work and payments is not a sustainable model, and making up for a calendar year of postponed work is also not very  realistically. What is passed on is the damage to the lower part of the chain. That is why we need a generic aid package. The Creative Coalition calls the shifting of orders "up to it can be done again', while institutions/organisations do support measures received, incompatible with the principles of fair share and fair chain from the Fair Practice Code and believes that the passing on of orders must cease. In addition, zzp'ers need more support to get out of the danger zone and to be able to focus on recovery, stabilisation and reopening. The study shows that a one-time contribution of 10,000 euros per self-employed person is sufficient for this. The basis for the amount can be found in a compensation of the, also according to the research, incurred business costs in 2020 of 7,000 euros per self-employed person, according to the Creative Coalition. 

Trickle up 

The Creative Coalition advocates this trickle up principle in contrast to the currently used trickle down principle: 'In the first aid package, the Minister for Education, Culture and Science provided specific support not to zzp'ers but to institutions. The minister's idea was that these institutions could then ensure that employment was maintained by initiating a flow of orders. The money provided by the Minister should trickle through to the self-employed and employees on temporary contracts via the institutions: trickle down in the second aid package, the bulk of the effort was on the same thing." 

The main reason for non-payment was the rescheduling of work

Trickle down therefore, does not appear to be working. Nearly 70% of the respondents indicated that the work/client did not pay or only partially paid the agreed fee/salary for the existing assignments (69.4%). 28.4% received full payment and for 12.8%, although not the full amount, more than 50% of the agreed amount. The rest of the respondents were paid nothing or less than 50%. The main reason for not receiving a payout was to pass on work.

Accessibility of aid measures 

At 83.2%, by far the majority of survey respondents are like self-employed people working in the sector. Of the self-employed that participated to the survey, 70.8% had recourse to emergency support at some point. Of these, the TOZO-1 is by far the most important with 62.6% of requests granted. (TOGS = 10%; TVL = 5,9%; NOW = 0,8%). The conclusion from the study is that the The percentage of self-employed persons who could make use of TOZO decreased from 62.6% (TOZO-1) to 22.4% (TOZO-3). This means that 77.6% of all self-employed respondents could not use TOZO-3. And that 65% of the self-employed respondents at the start of the coronary crisis were still supported by TOZO-1, but ultimately fell by the wayside after the introduction of TOZO-2 (25.6%) and TOZO-3. Half of these due to the introduction of the partner income test. 

Loss of income 

The largest group of respondents (30%) indicated that in 2020, including any emergency support as well as additional funding and work outside the sector, suffered an income loss of 60 to 40%. For 26% of the respondents, the income loss was 40-20%. And 20% of the respondents had an income loss of 80-60%. 

Letter to the outgoing Cabinet 

In response to the results of the survey, the Creative Coalition sent a letter to the outgoing minister on 31 March. Ministers of Education, Culture and Science, Economic Affairs and Climate Change, Social Affairs and Employment, and Finance, calling for immediate and essential support in the form of a one-off compensation of € 5,000: "Trickle down does not work. The support that cultural institutions receive from the government does not flow through properly to freelancers and flex workers in the chain. The weakest link takes the biggest hits."  

The extensive article by the Creative Coalition can be found on PlatformBK.nl