The government's changes in the field of the self-employed against precarious forms of work

Ministry of Culture, Slovenia,
09 January 2025, Slovenia

Today, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted the Regulation amending the Regulation on the Self-Employed in Culture. It is part of a larger set of changes to the status of the self-employed in culture. The aim is to improve their position and eliminate the precariousness of freelancers in culture.

The proposal for an amended regulation is the first major intervention in the scope and quality criteria in the last decade and redefines the criteria for obtaining the status of self-employed and the right to pay social security contributions from the state budget. A key guideline of change is the principle of "every job counts". In addition to their basic activity in the field of culture, the self-employed in culture also perform many other jobs, from education, mentoring, taking care of the internationalization of their work, organizing guest appearances and other professional tasks. In addition to artistic quality, this work, which is essential for achieving exceptional achievements in culture, will now be judged and taken into account. In this way, expert committees will assess the quality of the applicant's work and its contribution to the development of the field, the applicant's referentiality, nominations for prizes and awards, contribution to accessibility, internationalisation or cross-sectoral integration of culture, and contribution to the development of skills related to the field of work.

The new scoring system makes sense to take into account that in some areas there are no prizes, or they are awarded for collective work rather than for an individual. Similarly, referentiality is no longer limited to media coverage, but also envisages the role of professional associations and reference institutions, thus addressing in particular the possibility of quality work of the self-employed outside the larger urban centres, which find it more difficult to find space in the mainstream media.

The criteria are now the same for all professions and are added together in a modular way, which brings greater clarity and more equal treatment. "At the forefront of these solutions is an understanding of the nature of the work of the self-employed in culture and their precarious position. The regulation is now being adapted to their real achievements, instead of the self-employed having to continue to adapt their artistic decisions to the conditions of the regulation," said Minister of Culture Dr Asta Vrečko. The points and type of work were meaningfully translated from the existing system, except where they did not correspond to the real situation on the ground. Thus, it is now possible to reach the threshold with a similar volume of work as before.

After almost ten years, the list of professions of self-employment in culture is also being redefined, as many new ones have emerged during this time, especially those related to new artistic and technological processes, many of them in the field of film. Nine new occupations are being introduced (Assistant Director, DJ, Microphoneist, Colorist, Visual Effects Designer, Transdisciplinary Creator, Visual Performer (VJ), Visual Technical Producer and Continuity Manager/Scripter). More than 20 professions have been changed at the substantive or sectoral level. An individual can now apply for up to five occupations, taking into account more targeted career development.

The list of cultural prizes has been updated to take into account significantly more prizes in different fields, including those created in the last decade. The regulation also brings a number of minor administrative changes that will enable a more optimal and faster determination of the status of the self-employed in culture.

The amendments to the regulation were made in dialogue with the professional public and represent a key basis for further measures that will improve the working and social position of the self-employed in culture.

https://www.gov.si/novice/2025-01-09-vlada-s-spremembami-na-podrocju-samozaposlenih-proti-prekarnim-oblikam-dela/