Date: 21/10/2026

Jorge Barbat Soler

The first of the legislative packages previously announced by the Spanish Government has now been published in the Spanish Official State Gazette (Boletín Oficial del Estado, or BOE). Leaving aside those provisions which are essentially concerned with individual benefits and entitlements, this article focuses on the measures of most immediate relevance to employers, namely what businesses will actually be required to implement and, crucially, from when: reductions in working hours for the care of children affected by cancer or other serious illnesses, two new special categories of temporary incapacity, and a significant across-the-board change to the calculation of the regulatory base.

In our Circular published yesterday, we noted that the Spanish Government had revived the legislative practice formerly associated with the so-called “Social Fridays”, now recast as “Social Tuesdays”, and urged a degree of caution when assessing the various measures announced. Those initial announcements have now begun to crystallise into legislation: the first package has become positive law.

Royal Decree-Law 31/2026, of 20 October, on the enhancement of the protective scope of the Social Security system and other social provisions (BOE of 21 October) was approved by the Spanish Council of Ministers and entered into force on 21 October 2026, without prejudice to the staggered effective dates applicable to a number of its provisions.

The legislation is considerably broader in scope than the matters addressed in this article. A substantial part of its content concerns benefits and individual entitlements, including survivors’ pensions for unmarried partners, orphan’s pensions, pensions arising from acts of terrorism and the Maintenance Payments Guarantee Fund. Those matters affect employees primarily in their individual capacity rather than the organisation of work itself. We therefore address them only briefly at the end of this article. Our principal concern here is the direct impact upon employers and workforce management, particularly given that the first tranche of measures takes effect as early as this Friday.

Care of children affected by cancer or other serious illness

This is both the most significant and the most immediate amendment, taking effect on 23 October 2026. Article Seven of Royal Decree-Law 31/2026 amends Article 37.6 of the Spanish Workers’ Statute (Estatuto de los Trabajadores), while Article One, paragraphs Seven to Nine, introduces corresponding amendments to Articles 190, 191 and 192 of the Spanish General Social Security Act (Ley General de la Seguridad Social).

Until now, the right to reduce working hours by at least 50% in order to care for a seriously ill child operated, in essence, on a mutually exclusive basis: it could be exercised by one parent or the other. Under the amended Article 37.6, the entitlement may now be recognised in favour of both parents, prospective adoptive guardians or permanent foster carers in respect of the same beneficiary, either alternately or simultaneously.

The corresponding Social Security treatment is governed by Article 192.1 of the General Social Security Act. Where both parents exercise the entitlement simultaneously in respect of the same beneficiary, each will receive an allowance equivalent to 50% of their respective regulatory base for occupational contingencies, irrespective of the percentage by which each of them actually reduces their working hours. The benefit therefore ceases to track the precise reduction in working time and instead operates on a fixed-percentage basis.

By way of example, consider two parents whose nine-year-old child is undergoing cancer treatment and who work for different employers. Under the previous arrangements, one parent might traditionally have reduced working hours by 50% and received the corresponding benefit, while the other parent could not simultaneously avail themselves of the same entitlement. From 23 October onwards, both may reduce their working hours concurrently, for example by 50% and 60% respectively, while each receives a benefit equal to 50% of their own regulatory base, irrespective of the precise percentage reduction applied.

A further development concerns households in which there is more than one qualifying beneficiary. In such circumstances, the entitlement may be recognised in favour of both parents, provided that each satisfies the applicable requirements individually and each reduction relates to a different beneficiary.

The legislation also broadens access to the benefit in the absence of hospitalisation where the child requires medical treatment of equivalent intensity. This matter has expressly been left to subsequent regulatory development and is therefore likely to give rise, at least initially, to a degree of interpretative uncertainty.

The entitlement may also be extended beyond the age of 26 where the beneficiary has a recognised disability of at least 65% or Grade III dependency, without temporary respite-care stays interrupting the statutory cohabitation requirement. A further noteworthy provision is that, where the person suffering from the illness marries or enters into a registered partnership, the entitlement passes to their spouse or partner.

From an employer’s perspective, the practical consequence is immediate: any internal application form, work-life balance protocol or refusal criterion premised upon the mutual exclusivity of the parents’ entitlement will be obsolete from Friday onwards.

Two new special categories of temporary incapacity

Article One, paragraph Three, introduces two further special categories of temporary incapacity arising from common contingencies into Article 169.1(a) of the Spanish General Social Security Act. These are added to the existing categories relating to incapacitating menstruation, termination of pregnancy, pregnancy from the thirty-ninth week onwards and organ donation.

The new categories are a medically limiting secondary menopausal disorder, duly coded for these purposes, and injuries resulting from gender-based violence. Both provisions take effect on 1 December 2026.

From the employer’s standpoint, however, the principal significance lies not so much in the underlying circumstances as in the applicable legal regime, which departs from ordinary temporary incapacity due to common contingencies in three material respects:

• Responsibility for payment and commencement of the benefit. Pursuant to the amended Article 173.1, the benefit in these special situations will be borne by the managing or collaborating entity responsible for temporary incapacity due to common contingencies from the day following commencement of sick leave. The employer remains responsible for full salary in respect of the first day of absence. Accordingly, the ordinary period from the fourth to the fifteenth day during which the employer bears the corresponding cost in cases of common-contingency temporary incapacity falls away. This entails a lower direct cost for employers, although the new treatment will have to be properly reflected in payroll.
• Minimum contribution period. Article 172 expressly removes the requirement to satisfy minimum contribution periods in respect of these special situations.
• Social Security contributions. The obligation to continue making Social Security contributions remains in force throughout the period of temporary incapacity, pursuant to Article 144.4.

Classification rests with the relevant medical practitioner within the Public Health Service, who will identify these special situations through the appropriate coding. The employer will receive notification of the sick leave, not the employee’s diagnosis.

In cases involving gender-based violence, the legislation additionally requires specific supporting documentation, including, as applicable, notification to the Public Prosecutor’s Office or the relevant court, a protection order, interim protective measures, a report from the Public Prosecutor or a criminal conviction. This, however, constitutes a requirement to be satisfied by the employee vis-à-vis the relevant managing entity and not an evidential burden to be discharged before the employer.

The less conspicuous change: a new regulatory base for temporary incapacity

If one amendment is particularly liable to generate payroll complications in December, it is this one.

Article One, paragraph Four, amends Article 171 of the Spanish General Social Security Act and alters the calculation of the regulatory base for temporary incapacity generally, rather than merely for the newly introduced special categories. The amendment takes effect on 1 December 2026.

Where the calculation previously relied upon the contribution base for the month immediately preceding the triggering event, the relevant reference will now be the contribution base for the month immediately preceding the month prior to the triggering event.

Put more simply, the calculation looks back two months rather than one.

By way of illustration, where a monthly-paid employee commences ordinary sickness absence on 15 December 2026, November constitutes the immediately preceding month and October the month immediately preceding November. Accordingly, the common-contingency contribution base for October will be used. Remuneration received in November will therefore be irrelevant to the calculation, irrespective of whether that month included variable remuneration, an incentive payment or other additional remuneration.

The rationale underlying the amendment is essentially administrative. Where sick leave begins part-way through a month, the contribution data for the immediately preceding month may not yet have been definitively submitted. By moving the reference period back by a further month, the calculation relies upon a contribution base that has already been closed.

The practical consequences are nevertheless potentially significant. In workforces with substantial variable remuneration, or where collective bargaining salary increases have taken effect during the year, the applicable regulatory base may no longer accurately reflect remuneration at the time the incapacity arises, whether to the employee’s advantage or disadvantage.

Historically, certain sectors have witnessed attempts to time periods of sickness absence immediately after months in which particularly high levels of variable remuneration were earned, with the Christmas sales period being a classic example, so as to ensure that such remuneration was captured in the regulatory base. By moving the reference period back by two months rather than one, the new calculation excludes precisely the month immediately preceding the commencement of the absence.

The same principle applies to occupational contingencies, subject to the corresponding specific rules: overtime is excluded from the contribution base itself, while overtime worked during the year preceding the relevant reference month is added after being divided by 365.

The special rules applicable to recent hires are also preserved. Where an employee joined the company during the month preceding the triggering event, that month will be used; where the employee joined during the same month in which the sickness absence commenced, the calculation will take into account the days elapsed between commencement of employment and the day preceding the absence.

Finally, the First Transitional Provision establishes that the amendments concerning the special temporary-incapacity categories will apply solely to processes commencing on or after the relevant effective date, thereby avoiding their application to periods of temporary incapacity already under way when the amendments take effect.

Reduction in Social Security contributions during temporary incapacity for employees aged 62 or over

Article One, paragraph Two, amends Article 144.4 of the General Social Security Act and recognises an employer’s entitlement to a 75% reduction in employer Social Security contributions for common contingencies during periods of temporary incapacity affecting employees who have reached the age of 62.

Employers would therefore be well advised to verify that the reduction is being correctly applied in practice, as it represents a potentially material saving which, notwithstanding its apparently automatic operation, may otherwise pass unnoticed.

Self-employed workers: temporary incapacity and definitive contribution bases

As regards individuals falling within the Spanish Special Scheme for Self-Employed Workers (Régimen Especial de Trabajadores Autónomos, or RETA), Article One, paragraph Thirteen, introduces a new paragraph (h) into Article 318 of the General Social Security Act.

The provision establishes a specific regulatory base for temporary incapacity, calculated by reference to the contribution base for the month immediately preceding the month prior to the triggering event, divided by 30, together with specific rules applicable to recent registrations.

Of greater practical significance is the amendment to Article 309. During periods in which certain Social Security benefits are received, including temporary incapacity, birth and childcare benefits, risks during pregnancy or breastfeeding, care of children affected by cancer, and cessation-of-activity benefits, the monthly contribution base applied will become definitive and will not subsequently be subject to regularisation.

This provision takes effect on 1 January 2027.

Catastrophic events

Article One, paragraph Seventeen, introduces an Additional Provision into the Spanish General Social Security Act enabling future legislation adopted to provide extraordinary protection following a catastrophic event to treat benefits such as temporary incapacity, permanent incapacity, and death and survivors’ benefits as arising from occupational contingencies.

At present, the provision imposes no immediate obligation upon employers. It does, however, establish the statutory framework through which such treatment may be introduced in response to future catastrophic events, with the corresponding implications for costs, management by mutual insurance entities and the classification of periods of incapacity.

Administrative mutual insurance schemes

Articles Four, Five and Six extend the new special categories of temporary incapacity to members of the Spanish Armed Forces, personnel serving in the Administration of Justice and civil servants within the Spanish State Administration, likewise with effect from 1 December 2026.

This is included for general information purposes.

The remainder: improvements to individual benefits

Given their essentially individual nature, we merely record the remaining measures here, without prejudice to addressing any specific issues which may arise in relation to them:

• Relaxation of the eligibility requirements governing survivors’ pensions for unmarried partners with children in common, for which two years of demonstrable stable cohabitation will suffice, without the need for registration as a partnership or execution of a public deed.
• An increase in orphan’s pensions arising from violence against women, raising the relevant amount to twice the Spanish statutory minimum wage.
• An increase in the minimum amount of extraordinary pensions arising from acts of terrorism, from three times the Spanish Public Multiple-Effect Income Indicator (IPREM) to twice the statutory minimum wage.
• Amendments to Spanish Law 29/2011 concerning compensation for victims of terrorism in the absence of a final criminal judgment.
• Various improvements to the Maintenance Payments Guarantee Fund, including an increase in the maximum advance payment to €300 per month.

Effective dates

The Fourth Final Provision establishes the general entry into force of the Royal Decree-Law on the date of its publication, while providing for the staggered application of a number of measures. In summary:

• 21 October 2026: general entry into force.
• 23 October 2026: measures concerning the care of children affected by cancer or another serious illness.
• 1 November 2026: extraordinary pensions arising from acts of terrorism.
• 1 December 2026: new temporary-incapacity categories, regulatory base, qualifying periods, payment and contribution rules, and administrative mutual insurance arrangements.
• 1 January 2027: definitive treatment and regularisation of contribution bases for self-employed workers.

Conclusion

Royal Decree-Law 31/2026 is a legislative instrument of markedly heterogeneous scope, adopted against the backdrop of the dissolution of the Spanish Parliament and supported by a justification based upon circumstances of extraordinary and urgent necessity which, with due respect, appears considerably more compelling in relation to certain provisions than to others.

From an employment perspective, employers should review their work-life balance protocols and template responses to requests for reductions in working hours without delay, paying particular attention to their interaction with existing Equality Plans.