Problem addressed

As many as 32.6 million people were self-employed in the EU in 2018, accounting for 14% of total employment – a proportion that has remained largely unchanged in the past 20 years or so. As a way to create quality jobs and a substitute for unemployment given its counter-cyclical nature, self-employment is increasingly seen as an alternative to salaried employment – particularly in platform-driven business models. However, it can sometimes be used to reduce labour costs and circumvent labour law regulations, thus adding to the labour market precariousness of certain sub-segments of self-employed workers, for instance freelancers. It is in this context, in 2019, that the Council of the EU adopted a recommendation to ensure access to social protection for workers and the self-employed.

Innovative solution

The Smart Cooperative (Smart Coop) is an initiative that offers voluntary insurance to its freelance members by pooling members’ risks and benefits without profit purposes. Smart Coop is a shared enterprise that offers access to a series of services to develop members’ economic activity and allows them to access the status of a salaried worker, a status that provides access to the best social protection. The cooperative was created in Belgium in 1998. Initially, it helped only freelance artists, whereas its membership now extends to any sector of activity.

The Smart Coop offers insurance packages that cover accidents and bankruptcy risks, and financial services such as guaranteed wages and pre-financing of subsidies. Through a 24-hour web platform, the Smart Coop also offers administrative support to its members by providing access to a series of management tools – such as invoicing and tax declarations. It is innovative in its multidimensional service offer, which can be provided thanks to its partnership-oriented model, and due to its mix of digital and physical services including financial, advocacy, co-working spaces, and awareness-raising activities.

The Smart Coop also offers coaching, which consists of one-to-one meetings with advisors, and its specialised legal team offers legal assistance to members. These aspects – financial services, management, legal advice and coaching – are considered important because people may face financial barriers, challenges to navigating bureaucracy, may be insufficiently aware of their rights and obligations, and incompletely informed about the long-term advantages of voluntary insurance.

The Smart Coop develops local, national and international partnerships with stakeholders from the academic, economic, cooperative and political spheres. The partnership strategy aims to build a fertile environment around common and complementary goals. Partners play numerous functions as they may, for instance, organise events of interest to Smart Coop members, conduct research and studies on topics related to social welfare and provide workspaces and training to Smart Coop members.

Key results and benefits

The Smart Coop started in Belgium where it has 10 offices. Today, it has offices in 40 cities across 9 EU member states: Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden and Hungary. In Belgium and France, the Smart Coop employs 261 permanent staff members.

Through its work and its partner network, the Smart Coop has been very successful in accompanying and supporting its members. As shown in the Smart Coop’s annual activity report, over 35 000 freelancers use the Smart Coop each year and membership has steadily been rising. The Smart Coop also counts 250 private and public partners.

Potential for mainstreaming

The Smart Coop is self-financed through membership fees and various sources of mutualised funding. It has good potential for transferability to both high and low-income settings. The cooperative hopes to continue growing in other European Member States by developing partnerships and replicating the same model striving for social transformation based on solidarity.

In November 2017, the Smart Coop received the ICT-Enabled Social Innovation Award (IESI) from the Commission's Science and Knowledge Service. Additionally, in 2019, the cooperative was awarded the Future Work Award by the British Royal Society of Arts.