1. Composition of the Social Protection Floor

The Social Protection Floor is made up of:

1.1. The Subsidized Regime of the General Social Security System in Health.

1.2. The Complementary Social Service of Periodic Economic Benefits (BEPS for its acronym in Spanish) as a protection mechanism in old age.

1.3. The Inclusive Insurance that will protect the employee from the risks arising from the labor activity and illnesses covered by BEPS.

Dependent workers who join the Social Protection Floor will have access to the Family Subsidy System once it is regulated.

2. Scope of application 

2.1. Mandatory affiliates: 

2.1.1. People who have one or more part-time employment relationships and receive a total monthly income of less than one MMLW. 

2.1.2. People who enter into one or more service agreements and receive total monthly fees lower than one MMLW after deducting expenses and costs when applicable in accordance with article 107 of the Colombian Tax Code. 

2.1.3. People who have one or more employment relationships simultaneously with one or more service agreements, who receive a total monthly income of less than one MMLW after deducting expenses and costs when applicable in accordance with article 107 of the Colombian Tax Code

2.2. Voluntary affiliates: 

2.2.1. People who: 
-  do not have an employment relationship or have not entered into a service agreement, including producers in the agricultural sector, and 
-  do not have payment capacity to cover the total amount of the contribution to the Integral Social Security System, and
-  whose total monthly income is lower than a MMLW after deducting expenses and costs when applicable in accordance with article 107 of the Colombian Tax Code.

3. Affiliation 

Those linked to the Social Protection Floor will be affiliated to the Subsidized Regime of the General Social Security System in Health, fulfilling the requirements of access or permanence to said regime. In no case this regime will recognize financial benefits.

Those people who have one or more part-time employment relationships, and who, when adding up all their income, receive a monthly sum equal to or greater than one MMLW, must be affiliated to the Contributory Regime of the Social Security System according to the provisions of current regulations. In this case, the worker must inform their employers and each one of them must contribute to the System in proportion to the amount earned by the worker, in accordance with the percentages established in current regulations.

In the case of independent contractors who are in the same situation, they will be responsible for making contributions to the General Social Security System according to the provisions of current regulations, taking into account their income and the percentages established in regulations. 

4.  Access to the BEPS 

In the event in which the dependent worker or the independent contractor, as appropriate, has multiple employers or contracting parties and his/her total monthly income received is less than one MMLW, he/she must inform said circumstance to be affiliated to the Social Protection Floor.

4.1. Income of Voluntary Affiliates 

They may be linked to the BEPS in the Social Protection Floor and will be responsible for making the contribution to this program, for which they must register with the BEPS administrator through the electronic or physical mechanisms established for this purpose. 

4.2. Register of employers and contracting parties 

Employers who have workers who earn monthly wages lower than a MMLW, when making the first contribution to the Social Protection Floor must register with the BEPS administrator through the electronic or physical mechanisms established for this purpose. 

Likewise, those who hire independent contractors for monthly fees lower than a MMLW when making the first contribution to the Social Protection Floor must register with the BEPS administrator, through the electronic or physical mechanisms established for this purpose.

4.3. Opening of individual savings account for BEPS

The BEPS Complementary Social Service administrator must create an individual savings account for each person who is affiliated with the Subsidized Regime of the General Social Security System in Health, once the first contribution to the Social Protection Floor is made.

4.4. Transition

People who are affiliated to the General Social Security System in Health in the contributory regime or to a special regime as beneficiaries will maintain their affiliation to the health system in that condition or in the terms defined, and will be compulsory or voluntary affiliates to the Social Protection Floor, as applicable.  

5. Contribution to the Social Protection Floor 

The contribution to the Social Protection Floor will be made as follows:

5.1. Mandatory affiliates:

The contribution must be made on a monthly basis by the employer or contracting party, as applicable and can be made at any time during the month in which the activity takes place, through the mechanisms established by the administrator for such purpose.

The amount will correspond to the 15% of the monthly income received in the period for which said contribution is made. This contribution will be made in addition to the agreed value to be paid for the performance of the activity. This contribution cannot be deducted from the salary or fee to be paid for the service. 

5.2. Voluntary affiliates:

Voluntary affiliates to the Social Protection Floor will be responsible for making the contribution of the 15% of their monthly income, after deducting expenses and costs when applicable in accordance article 107 of the Colombian Tax Code.

The Administrator of the mechanism will inform the competent authority of affiliates cases who according to the contributions received or made, have income to be part of the General Social Security System in the Contributory Regime and the cases of employers or contracting parties and affiliates who exceed the maximum limits established for the Social Protection Floor.

Likewise, it will report the cases in which, within the same calendar month, contributions have been made to the Social Protection Floor and to the General Social Security System in the Contributory Regime and will adopt appropriate measures on individual accounts to prevent the occurrence of said simultaneity.

5.3. Additional contribution

Those affiliated to the Social Protection Floor can make additional contributions at their own expense to the BEPS individual savings account.

5.4. Distribution of contributions

The contribution will be distributed as follows:

• 14 points will be credited to the individual's savings account, and
• The remaining point will be used to pay the Inclusive Insurance premium.

5.5. Contribution limits

The value of the maximum annual contribution to the Social Protection Floor may not exceed the value established by the Intersectoral Pension Commission and BEPS.

6. Assurance

Mandatory and voluntary affiliates will be entitled to inclusive insurance coverage the day after the contribution is credited to their individual account. In any case, the coverage of the Inclusive Insurance will be higher than the micro-insurance currently in force for this Complementary Social Service.

Notwithstanding the above, people linked to the BEPS program who do not enter to the Social Protection Floor, to the extent that they do not make the payment for Inclusive Insurance, will be covered exclusively by the microinsurance established for this Complementary Social Service , provided they meet the requirements for that purpose.

The Inclusive Insurance may be hired with one or more private or public insurance companies.

7. Inspection

It will be in charge of the Pension and Payroll Fees Management Unit (UGPP for its acronym in Spanish).

8. Operation of the Complementary Social Service of BEPS

Once the saver has complied with the established requirements and the savings period in the BEPS mechanism has ended, he/she will be entitled to choose whether to receive the life annuity along with the 20% incentive on the saved value or its reimbursement, in which case the periodic incentive payment will not be applicable in accordance with current regulations.

9. Compliance with obligations

In no case the registration of the worker to the Social Protection Floor exempts the employer from the payment of fringe benefits and other obligations derived from the employment relationship. Likewise, it does not exempt the contracting party from the fulfillment of the obligations arising from the agreement.

10. Alternative of affiliation and payment to the General Social Security System

Employers who have personnel rendering services in part-time receiving a monthly income lower than one MMLW and who must be affiliated to the Social Protection Floor, can affiliate them and make monthly contributions to the General Social Security System in the Contributory Regime paying the total contribution over one MMLW. This alternative exempts them from affiliating these employees to the Social Protection Floor. 

11. Beginning of the Social Protection Floor 

It will be mandatory from February 1st, 2021.

See full text of Decree 1174 of 2020