RD adopting urgent measures to simplify/improve the level of assistance for unemployment protection

Major Reforms to Unemployment Benefits and Subsidies.

Significant changes have been made to the laws governing unemployment benefits and subsidiary assistance. Below are some of the key reforms:

1. Extended Entitlement to Unemployment Benefits:
– The right of absence from Spain whilst on unemployment benefits has been extended from two weeks to 30 days. *Do advice the unemployment office of your intention beforehand.

2. New Criteria for Legal Unemployment:
– Individuals can now be legally unemployed without having completed the minimum contribution period for contributory benefits, provided they have contributed for at least 90 days.

3. Support for Under 45s:
– Those under 45 who have exhausted their unemployment benefits and do not have dependents are now eligible for additional support.

4. Part-Time Contract Benefits:
– Individuals with one or more part-time contracts can now access subsidies more easily.

5. Changes to Subsidy Requirements:
– Updated requirements and amounts for various subsidies, including those for individuals over 52 years of age.

6. Unemployment Benefits for Part-Time Workers:
– New provisions have been made for receiving unemployment benefits while working part-time.

7. Recognition of Minimum Income Living Benefits:
– Streamlined procedures for recognizing the right to minimum income living benefits.

8. Support for De Facto Partners:
– Amendments to the law now include benefits for de facto partners.

9. Amendment to Social Security Law:
– Law 27/2011 on updating, adaptation, and modernisation of the Social Security system has been amended.

10. Changes to Parental Leave:
– New regulations regarding parental leave, including for the birth and care of a minor.

These reforms aim to provide more comprehensive and accessible support for unemployed individuals and adapt the social security system to modern needs.

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Translation of the full Royal Decree:

Royal Decree-Law 2/2024, of May 21, adopting urgent measures to simplify and improve the level of assistance for unemployment protection, and to complete the transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of June 20, 2019, on the reconciliation of family life and professional life of parents and caregivers, and repealing Council Directive 2010/18 / EU.

Entered into force on 23/05/2024

Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on the reconciliation of family and working life for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU is a directive based on equality between women and men. As stated in its recitals, work-life balance policies should serve to counteract the disadvantaged situation of women in the labour market, as well as the harmful effects resulting from the perpetuation of caring roles.

This objective determines that, whatever the name of the permits understood as rights of absence for family reasons, in order to meet the objectives of the directive, three circumstances must be taken into account: that the participation of women and the maintenance of their professional careers be effectively promoted; that a genuine guarantee of the co-responsible exercise of care tasks be established to avoid the perpetuation of roles; and, finally, that for all of the above, the economic cost associated with care permits be taken into account.

This is the case of the new parental leave, which is conceived as a leave to care for children that is different from the leave linked to birth, a leave that is the exclusive and non-transferable property of each parent and with the maintenance of a compensatory benefit for the salary not received during its enjoyment to change the behaviour patterns of the male parent.

It is also important to emphasise that the new parental leave, in order to correct this situation of professional disadvantage caused by caring responsibilities, also requires that it can be enjoyed in a flexible manner at the will of the worker and in accordance with his or her needs and for a period that goes beyond birth.

In light of the above, the regulation of the new parental leave in article 48 bis of the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute Law, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015, of October 23, incorporates all these requirements by establishing a right of absence of the worker – parent – for family reasons that can be used until the minor is eight years old.

In the Spanish legal system there are a plurality of rights to conciliation: leave for breastfeeding, reduction of working hours for legal custody, reduction or distribution of working hours and leave for child care – articles 37.4, 6 and 8 and 46.3 of the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute Law.

This regulation addresses a modification of breastfeeding leave in order to improve the terms of exercising the right and at the same time reinforce and complement the recently recognised parental leave. Currently, the right to be absent is subject to the provisions of collective bargaining or the agreement reached with the company. The modification of article 37.4 of the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute Law eliminates these restrictions, converting all possibilities of enjoyment, including the accumulation of paid hours of absence, into a right of all workers. This advances the improvement and increases the level of recognition and protection of conciliation permits, thus fulfilling the requirement of paid parental leave, as it appears in article 8.3 in relation to article 20.2 of Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of June 20, 2019.
II

Following the declaration by the World Health Organisation of the international pandemic caused by COVID-19 on 11 March 2020 and the rapid spread of this disease, both nationally and internationally, the Member States of the European Union quickly adopted coordinated emergency measures to protect the health of citizens and prevent the collapse of the economy.

Aware of the need at this historic moment for an unprecedented effort and an innovative approach to drive convergence, resilience and transformation in the European Union, the European Council of 21 July 2020 agreed on a set of far-reaching measures.

These measures combine the reinforced multi-annual financial framework (MFF) for 2021-2027 and the launch of a European Recovery Instrument (“Next Generation EU”), the central element of which is the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The implementation of the financial resources of the European Recovery Fund is being carried out through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. The projects that make up this Plan will allow structural reforms to be carried out in the coming years, through regulatory changes and investments and, therefore, will allow a change in the productive model for the recovery of the economy after the pandemic caused by COVID-19 and also a transformation towards a more resilient structure that will allow our model to successfully face other possible crises or challenges in the future.

Within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, Component 23 “New public policies for a dynamic, resilient and inclusive labour market”, framed in political area VIII “New care economy and employment policies”, has the challenge and objective of promoting, within the framework of social dialogue, the reform of the Spanish labour market to adapt it to current reality and needs and in a way that allows structural weaknesses to be corrected, with the aim of reducing structural unemployment and youth unemployment, correcting dualism, improving human capital, modernising collective bargaining and increasing the efficiency of public employment policies, also giving a boost to active employment policies, which will be aimed at training workers in the areas that demand the transformations required by our economy. This Plan is based on four pillars that will underpin the transformation of the entire Spanish economy, including gender equality, on a cross-cutting basis.

The reforms and investments proposed in this component include Reform 10, “Simplification and improvement of the level of unemployment assistance”, which aims to simplify the functioning of the system and adapt its objectives to provide greater clarity, legal certainty and facilitate management, especially with regard to groups with a higher degree of vulnerability and worse employment conditions.

Taking into account the objectives described in the aforementioned plan, this standard implements the measures necessary to carry out the transformation indicated therein.

Thus, this reform, addressed in the second article of this regulation, has been the subject of intense debate and joint work within the framework of social dialogue with the most representative business and trade union organisations and, although it has incorporated and been enriched by numerous contributions from both parties, it has culminated in the signing of an agreement with the most representative trade unions in the country.

Within the aforementioned reform process included in the Plan in its Component 23, the modification of the assistance level is directly linked to the objectives set out in Reform 10, which are specified in: the simplification of the regulation to allow greater flexibility in access and a reduction of administrative burdens so as to facilitate knowledge of the same and the processing of benefits for citizens and companies, and to allow the State Public Employment Service to implement greater automation of subsidies in a similar way to contributory benefits; the linking of this protection with the activity agreement so that beneficiaries, who are already long-term unemployed, are incorporated as a priority in programs and actions that enable their reintegration; guaranteed access to the services of the Common Portfolio of Services of the National Employment System for beneficiaries of the assistance level of unemployment protection; the constitution of this complementary benefit as a mechanism of transition towards social protection, when the beneficiary does not re-enter the labour market and is in a vulnerable situation; the prevention of the risks of conflict of jurisdiction with the autonomous communities, since, as it is regulated within the consolidated text of the General Law on Social Security, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015, of October 30, it would be a Social Security benefit linked to the existence of prior contributions; and, finally, the consolidation of a model that follows the line of the protection model of the countries in our environment, and with the position on the matter of the Council of Europe.

These reforms, in short, serve to promote the goal of an inclusive and resilient labour market in a cross-cutting manner and respond coherently to public policies to make the market more dynamic and responsive to challenges such as the demographic challenge and the green and digital transitions.
III

This regulation also includes a modification to article 84 of the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute, in order to improve the regulation of collective bargaining in the Autonomous Communities, ensuring the application of the most favourable agreements or conventions for workers.

The reform brought about by Law 11/1994, of 19 May, which amended certain articles of the Workers’ Statute and the consolidated text of the Labour Procedure Law and the Law on Infringements and Sanctions in the Social Order, introduced an important reform in terms of conventional structure with the intention of promoting the role of collective bargaining at the regional level, also favouring the progression of what were then called the regional frameworks for labour relations. The aim was to allow such lower-level agreements to affect collective agreements at the national level.

The wording introduced, however, was not entirely successful in its design; among other things, because, together with collective bargaining at the regional level, it promoted and granted powers to sign agreements or arrangements with such effects also at any level above the company and below the state level. This wording was subsequently modified by Royal Decree-Law 7/2011, of June 10, on urgent measures for the reform of collective bargaining, in which, although the possibility of affecting state collective bargaining agreements is limited to the regional bargaining level, important conditions are introduced, leaving this possibility to the discretion of the agreements or arrangements at the state level.

The amendment introduced hereby clarifies the current regulation so that, while maintaining the requirements that regional agreements and conventions be signed by legally legitimised subjects and the eventual limitation of regulating some matters, these agreements and conventions signed at the regional level will have priority over any other sectoral agreement or agreement at the national level, provided that said agreements and conventions obtain the support of the majorities required to constitute the negotiating committee in the corresponding negotiation unit. However, said priority is now exclusively conditioned on the regulation of the regional agreements or conventions being more favourable for workers than that established in the national agreements or conventions, so that in parallel the development of the regional areas of negotiation and the rights of workers are promoted. The new design clarifies that the priority of application of provincial agreements only occurs when established by regional agreements provided for in article 83.2 of the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute Law and provided that their regulation is more favorable and does not refer to matters expressly limited by law.

In another order of things, component 24 of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan focuses on the revaluation of the cultural industry within the lever policy aimed at promoting the culture and sports industry. In line with the plan itself, and establishing that “there are a series of deficiencies in the legislative field that must be addressed in order to improve the regulatory framework of the artistic value chain that goes from the protection of intellectual property to the rights of the artists themselves”, the first of the planned reforms was the “development of the Artist Statute, promotion of patronage and tax incentives regime”, with the aim of adapting the legal, fiscal and labor framework of the cultural sector, to improve the social protection of the agents of the sector and increase the participation of private investment.

In this regard, within the Proposal for a Council Implementing Decision on the approval of the evaluation of Spain’s recovery and resilience plan, of 16 June 2021, a series of objectives and milestones were established for each measure. Specifically for the reform consisting of the development of the Statute of the Artist and the promotion of investment, cultural patronage and participation, the Council of the European Union urges that the future statute regulate, among other aspects, albeit literally, trade union representation, indicating that the implementation of the measure should be completed no later than 31 December 2022.

However, this statute is part of previous initiatives, since on September 6, 2018, the Plenary Session of the Congress of Deputies unanimously approved the report of the Subcommittee for the preparation of the Statute of the Artist, a document previously approved on June 7 by said Subcommittee, which had been created within the Culture Commission of the Congress of Deputies, with the participation of professionals from public administrations, private agents, associations and organisations of the sector. The report approved by the Congress of Deputies demanded that the Government approve urgent measures on artistic creation, with the aim of improving the working conditions of Spanish creators. In this context, the abrupt outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic took place and the subsequent approval of Royal Decree-Law 32/2021, of December 28, on urgent measures for labor reform, the guarantee of employment stability and the transformation of the labor market, situations that only highlighted the need to update the regulation of artists. The main recent regulatory milestone of a labor nature and specific to this group was the approval of Royal Decree-Law 5/2022, of March 22, which adapts the regime of the special employment relationship of people dedicated to artistic activities, as well as to the technical and auxiliary activities necessary for their development, and improves the working conditions of the sector, a regulation that continues to point out the urgent need to approve an Artist Statute.

In this context, and despite the legislative actions described, it is unavoidable that in order to meet the milestone set out in the Council’s Implementing Decision, it is necessary to update the system of representation of workers in the sector. This is what is intended by the amendment to the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute Law contained in this regulation, which introduces special rules relating to the requirements that must be met by workers who intend to be voters or eligible in the elections for staff delegates or members of the company committee. This regulatory amendment allows for increased levels of participation in the elections for workers’ representatives, which results in a better and more effective system of representation for the affected groups.

                                                        IV
This Royal Decree-Law is structured into an explanatory part and an operative part, made up of three articles containing the amendments to the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute Law and the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law, relating to the amendment of breastfeeding leave and unemployment protection, as well as the consolidated text of the Basic Public Employee Statute Law, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015, of 30 October, five additional provisions, five transitional provisions, one repealing provision and fourteen final provisions.

In the first article, the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute is amended, with regard to, on the one hand, the regulation of breastfeeding leave, provided for in article 37.4; to the concurrence with respect to the autonomous collective agreements, which is regulated in article 84.3 and 4 and, on the other hand, to introduce a new twenty-eighth additional provision which aims, given the speciality of the artistic field, to provide for specialities in the condition of elector and eligible.

Article 2 deals with the amendment of the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law, referring to the reform of the level of assistance for unemployment protection.

The basic characteristics of unemployment protection at the assistance level are reviewed in such a way that it expands its level of coverage by eliminating gaps in protection, simplifies and improves the requirements for access and maintenance of the same, and guarantees the beneficiaries of the subsidies access to personalised employment itineraries in order to improve their employability and promote their insertion into the labor market. It also provides citizens with knowledge of the procedures to meet the obligations contracted in terms of unemployment.

This reform is carried out by modifying articles 274, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 282, 286 and 287 of the aforementioned consolidated text of the General Social Security Law, introducing the necessary provisions to adapt it to the objectives set out above. In general, the target group of the new system will be unemployed persons whose situation is directly related to the immediately preceding loss of a job, or the exhaustion of the contributory benefit.

Protected situations that are not directly related to the loss of a previous job, as well as the protection measures for people who exhaust the rights provided for in Title III of the consolidated text of the General Law on Social Security, must be redirected towards other social protection mechanisms, in order to simplify the unemployment protection system. As an exception, the assumption of access to the subsidy for Spanish emigrants who have returned without the right to contributory benefits is maintained, a group historically included in this area of protection and not expressly included in the minimum vital income. In addition, since Royal Decree 1369/2006, of November 24, regulating the active insertion income program for unemployed people with special economic needs and difficulty in finding employment, is repealed in order to maintain the protection that was provided through it to victims of gender or sexual violence, the unemployment benefit aimed at this group is created. In both cases, the aim is to ensure that the affected groups, currently protected under unemployment protection, do not see their protection diminished due to their exclusion or different level of coverage in other forms of social protection.

The coverage of the welfare level is extended to some age groups previously excluded, allowing access, on the one hand, to those under forty-five years of age without family responsibilities provided they have exhausted a contributory benefit of 360 days, and on the other, to those who can prove contribution periods of less than six months, even if they do not have family responsibilities. The right to access the welfare subsidy is recognised for temporary agricultural workers, previously excluded.

On the other hand, the access and maintenance requirements are simplified and improved: the one-month waiting period from the date of exhaustion of the contributory benefit is eliminated, the current way of considering family responsibilities in subsidies with family burdens is modified, so that the applicant will not be excluded for receiving personal income above 75 percent of the minimum inter-professional wage, establishing the rule that there will be family responsibilities when the total income of the family unit between the number of people that form it, including the applicant, does not exceed 75 percent of the minimum inter-professional wage.

The duration of the subsidies for exhaustion of contributory benefits is simplified by equalising the duration, regardless of age, for the subsidy for exhaustion of contributory benefits with family responsibilities; the duration of the subsidy for insufficient contributions is maintained, proportional to the number of months of contributions.

The amount of the subsidies for exhaustion and insufficient contributions is modified, introducing a formula of decreasing amount, in three sections, and the proportional deduction based on the hours worked part-time is eliminated and, finally, a provision similar to that established for the latter is incorporated into the regulation of the amount of the subsidy for insufficient contributions for the contributory benefit for the cases of access from a situation of reduced working hours due to the birth of a child, legal guardianship, victims of gender violence, and other regulated.

The dynamics of the right to subsidies for exhaustion of contributory benefits, for insufficient contributions and for returned emigrants and victims of gender or sexual violence are also improved, recognising them for quarterly periods and requiring that the requirements of lack of income or family responsibilities be met in the calendar month prior to the date of the initial application for the subsidy and each of its extensions, without requiring a review of the right to verify whether it is maintained during the three months recognised. The requirement of income or family responsibilities is configured as a requirement for access to the initial right and to each of the extensions or resumptions of the subsidy, which will be accredited by means of a “responsible declaration” of the income received in the previous month. The veracity of this data will be verified a posteriori by means of the corresponding tax returns. If the interested party conceals any income in the initial application or in any of the extensions of the subsidy, and this affects his/her right, once detected, the three months recognised after said application will be declared as having been unduly received.

The subsidy for those over fifty-two years of age is maintained, the amount of which is fixed and not modified. However, this is offset by the longer duration of this subsidy and by contributions for the contingency of retirement, which the other subsidies do not have.

The compatibility formula for the subsidies provided for in Title III of the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law with full-time or part-time employment is changed, establishing compatibility for a maximum of one hundred and eighty days, in one or more employment relationships, with the aim of not penalising return to work.

In these cases of compatibility of the subsidy with paid work, it will be perceived as a supplement to support employment, without changing its legal nature, being really a new form of compatibility of the subsidy with work. The terminological change is necessary to distinguish this new regulation from the previous compatibility of unemployment benefits and subsidies with part-time work, as well as during the transitional period until the extinction of the subsidies recognised prior to the entry into force of this reform.

This measure is also contemplated for contributory unemployment benefits, provided that nine months have been accrued and the recognised right is equal to or greater than twelve months, which will be applicable to benefits recognised from April 1, 2025. This same provision regulates the effects on contributions in cases of compatibility of unemployment benefits with full-time work.

In addition, the subsidy is compatible with the economic benefits obtained by attending vocational training or work activities or by undertaking external academic internships that form part of the study plan.
In another order of things, with the aim of reaffirming the link between unemployment benefits and the monitoring of labour integration measures, a new cause for suspension of unemployment benefits and subsidies is introduced, due to interruption of the activity agreement.

With regard to labour reintegration and employability improvement measures, the objective is to articulate an effective link between the beneficiaries of the subsidies and active employment policies, to improve their employability and promote labour insertion, by signing the activity agreement referred to in article 3 of Law 3/2023, of February 28, on Employment, with monitoring by the competent employment services, as a requirement for access and throughout the period of receipt of the subsidy, which will include compliance with the job search by the beneficiaries. The effectiveness and efficiency with respect to the measures to improve employability and labour reintegration will be evaluated by the State Public Employment Service, as set out in the fifty-fifth additional provision of the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law.

The unification of unemployment protection for temporary agricultural workers is addressed, recognising their right to unemployment benefits and eliminating previous restrictions on the duration of contributory benefits and on the reciprocal calculation of periods of paid employment as a temporary agricultural worker for access to unemployment benefits due to insufficient contributions. To this end, articles 286 and 287 of the consolidated text of the General Law on Social Security are amended.

Other aspects are included that update the regulation of unemployment protection in general, both at the contributory and assistance levels, by modifying articles 269, 271, 272, 283, 284, 295 and 299 of the consolidated text of the General Law on Social Security. Issues are addressed such as the extension of the period for occasional departure abroad, from the current fifteen days to thirty days; the extinction of rights that were suspended for six years; the application of article 283 of the aforementioned consolidated text during periods of inactivity of temporary fixed-term workers; as well as the updating of the vocabulary of article 284, regarding the protected situations of birth and care of children.

A third section is incorporated into article 295 of the consolidated text of the General Law on Social Security, in order to make it easier for citizens and companies to comply with their obligations to repay benefits unduly received, and in accordance with the most recent case law. The authority of the managing entity is established over the fractioning of benefits unduly received by beneficiaries, as well as the possibility of accessing partial compensation with new benefits that may be granted to the debtor. It is especially important to establish a regulation of both procedures in this royal decree-law, which, although it is of general scope, will benefit to a greater extent the beneficiaries of unemployment benefits, of a smaller amount, by accommodating compliance with their repayment obligation to a procedure of partial discounts on the granted subsidy. In this sense, it is considered urgent to update and complete the regulation of the different procedures in this area that was initiated by Royal Decree-Law 1/2023, of January 10, or, of urgent measures regarding incentives for labor hiring and improvement of social protection of artists, regarding the reimbursement of undue benefits. The fractionation and partial compensation procedures, which were being applied on a residual basis in the management of the State Public Employment Service, have been increased in parallel with the management and review of the files for the reimbursement of undue benefits derived from ERTE COVID-19, which makes it necessary to include them in the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law.

The additional provisions incorporated into the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law, on the one hand, reinforce the guarantee of access to the personalised itinerary or plan that facilitates access to employment and improves the employability of the beneficiaries of the subsidy and provide for a specific ex post evaluation of the results achieved, which must be used to make decisions and adapt the regulatory regulations, and on the other hand, they initiate the execution of one of the measures included in the Comprehensive Socioeconomic Development Plans of the cities of Ceuta and Melilla. Likewise, they complete the reform of the assistance level, the regulation of access to the subsidy, in two new additional provisions, of the following groups: on the one hand, Spanish emigrants who obtain immediate protection after their return to Spain, and, on the other hand, victims of gender or sexual violence. Lastly, they complete the regulation of the compatibility regime applicable to unemployment benefits and the effects of the compatibility of full-time work in terms of the contribution that must be paid to the managing entity.

Article 3 introduces a specific modification to the consolidated text of the Basic Statute of Public Employees, to expressly include flexible employment formulas as an effective exercise of the right to conciliation with respect to caregivers. To this end, article 47 of the aforementioned legal text is amended, so that it fully complies with the provisions of article 9 of Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of June 20, 2019, on flexible work arrangements.

Flexible work formulas, together with the rest of the measures regarding working hours, derive from the self-organisation power of the Public Administrations and are provided for in the instruments regulating the working hours of each Administration. This modification provides these conciliation measures with a legal basis, to guarantee uniformity in the application of these instruments, as well as to provide for their basic application to carers who, in the terms of the directive, will be those public employees who provide care to a person who lives in the same home and needs care for a serious medical reason.

Five additional provisions are included which refer, among other matters, to the preparation by the Government, within the framework of social dialogue, of a Global Strategy for the employment of long-term unemployed or older workers and guarantee of services for beneficiaries over forty-five years of age; to the constitution of an Interministerial Commission with the aim of evaluating the effects of the reform of the level of unemployment assistance contemplated in this regulation; to the control of the application of the new compatibility regime, within the framework of the collaboration between the State Public Employment Service and the State Body for the Inspection of Labour and Social Security; to the fulfilment of the milestone of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan; and, finally, to the reduction of the minimum number of actual days worked to access unemployment benefits or agricultural income in favor of temporary agricultural workers residing in the territory of the Autonomous Communities of Andalusia and Extremadura.

Furthermore, in accordance with the first transitional provision, certain articles of the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law will continue to apply until October 31, 2024.

The second transitional provision refers to the adaptation of the Regulations for the organisation and internal functioning of the Economic and Social Council, which must take place within three months of the publication of this Royal Decree-Law. It also states that, three months after the publication of the amendment to the aforementioned regulation, the Government will proceed to appoint the members of the Economic and Social Council, based on the proposals of the organisations that prove their right to form part of it.

Likewise, the third transitional provision provides for the regime applicable on a transitional basis to those who were receiving or have the right to resume any of the unemployment benefits, or the right to active insertion income, in force at the time of the entry into force of this Royal Decree-Law, who will maintain it until its extinction, as well as to those who have not requested any of said benefits despite proving a causal event prior to the date of entry into force of this Royal Decree-Law, without having requested the benefit; in all cases with the guarantee of an adequate transition to other social protection mechanisms if they are not reintegrated into the labour market.

And also, pursuant to the fourth transitional provision, the compatibility regime provided for in the fifth transitional provision of Law 45/2002, of December 12, on urgent measures for the reform of the unemployment protection system and improvement of employability, will be maintained on a temporary basis with respect to persons who at the time of entry into force of this reform were subject to it.

The fifth transitional provision, for its part, establishes the regime applicable to the procedures for recognition of the right to the minimum vital income benefit initiated prior to the entry into force of the Royal Decree-Law.

The sole repealing provision includes, in addition to the generic clause of regulatory repeal, the express repeal of the twenty-seventh additional provision of the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law, relating to the extraordinary unemployment benefit, and of the fifth transitional provision of Law 45/2002, of December 12, as well as Royal Decree 1369/2006, of November 24, which regulates the active insertion income program for unemployed persons with special economic needs and difficulty in finding employment.

As regards the final provisions, the first addresses the modification of article 2.3 of Law 21/1991, of June 17, by which the Economic and Social Council was created, adapting the representation of business organisations in the Second Group of the aforementioned Council, to the provisions of the sixth additional provision of the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute Law.

For their part, the second to eighth final provisions address the modification of those normative texts with respect to which it is necessary to adapt some of their provisions in order to maintain due coherence and complementarity with the previous legislative modifications.

The second final provision, as a fundamental complement to the reform carried out in this Royal Decree-Law, modifies the consolidated text of the Law on Infringements and Sanctions in the Social Order, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 5/2000, of August 4. Among others, the serious sanction included in article 47.1.b) of the aforementioned legal text is modified, to replace the sanction of extinction with a graduation of the same, by establishing a sanction of 3 months for the first infraction, 6 months for the second and extinction for the third. Likewise, the failure to register as job seekers of persons receiving benefits is eliminated as a minor infraction, and the wording of the serious infraction in article 25.3 is adapted. In addition, the minor infraction of failure to prove active job search is replaced by non-compliance with the requirements of the activity agreement.

The third final provision modifies the communication procedure provided for in Law 27/2011, of August 1, on the updating, adaptation and modernisation of the Social Security system, on the financial contributions to be made by profitable companies that carry out collective dismissals affecting workers aged fifty or older, in order to establish communication to the State Public Employment Service, electronically through Certific@, which will result in automated management from the start and therefore more effective. In parallel, the second final provision modifies the consolidated text of the Law on Infringements and Sanctions in the Social Order to establish the consequences of the lack of communication by those obliged.

The fourth final provision makes the necessary changes to Law 19/2021, of December 20, which establishes the minimum living income, in order to ensure that the regulation of the unemployment benefit and that of the minimum living income maintain the necessary coherence. Specifically, a new section 5 is introduced in letter f) of section 1 of article 20, in order to exclude the non-contributory unemployment benefit from the computable income, when it has expired on the date of application for the benefit. The concept of de facto partner is also modified to homogenise said concept in the regulation of both benefits and, given that the particularities of access to the unemployment benefit until now provided for the group of people released from prison are eliminated, the necessary modifications are introduced in the legal regime of the minimum living income benefit that address the particularities of this group. In this third final provision, amending Law 19/2021, of December 20, in its section seven, a new twelfth additional provision is added, in application of the principles of effectiveness and efficiency, to regulate a procedure that, through collaboration between the managing entity of the unemployment benefit and that of the minimum vital income, allows the processing of the minimum vital income benefit by eliminating administrative burdens for those people who exhaust the maximum period of receipt of unemployment benefits without having been reintegrated into an employment relationship – and, where appropriate, into their cohabitation unit – in those cases in which, after the consent of the interested parties, through the data provided by the managing entity of the unemployment benefit, the completion of the responsible declaration model established for this purpose, and the verification of requirements by the managing entity of the minimum vital income without requiring the provision of data or documents from the interested parties, it may issue a resolution on the right to the benefit. All of this, without prejudice to the right of the rest of the interested parties to request the benefit through the application provided for in article 27 of Law 19/2021, of December 20. Finally, a six-month entry into force is established, from its publication in the “Official State Gazette”, of the twelfth additional provision of Law 19/2021, of December 20, incorporated by section seven of the third final provision of this royal decree-law, in order that the managing entity of the minimum vital income can carry out the development of the corresponding computer applications.

The fifth final provision includes the maintenance of benefits for hiring caregivers in large families that were already being applied before April 1, 2024.

The sixth final provision includes the necessary changes to Royal Decree-Law 1/2023, of January 10, regarding, on the one hand, bonuses for hiring in certain sectors of activity and geographical areas, especially while the Comprehensive Socioeconomic Plans of the Cities of Ceuta and Melilla are in force; and on the other hand, bonuses in Social Security contributions for the hiring of caregivers in large families with effect from April 1, 2024, and until the regulatory development provided for the alternative bonus regulated in the first additional provision of Royal Decree-Law 16/2022, of September 6, for the improvement of the working and Social Security conditions of domestic workers.

In the seventh final provision, two new articles are incorporated into Royal Decree 625/1985, of April 2, which develops Law 31/1984, of August 2, on Unemployment Protection, which develop the new provision of article 295 of the consolidated text of the General Law of Social Security, go beyond the internal instructions and provide adequate publicity to the procedures, guaranteeing their homogeneous application. Its objective is to facilitate the most vulnerable workers, many of whom receive unemployment benefits at an assistance level, the return to the managing entity of the amounts owed as a result of the improper receipt of unemployment benefits, through the fractioning of their payment, as well as the partial compensation of said amounts with the new recognised rights.

The eighth final provision, which modifies Royal Decree 1044/1985, of June 19, regulating the payment of unemployment benefits in the form of a single payment for the current value of its amount, as a measure to promote employment, includes measures to strengthen control in the event of capitalisation of unemployment benefits.

The ninth final provision modifies Royal Decree 426/2003, of April 11, which regulates the agricultural income for temporary workers included in the Special Agricultural Regime of Social Security in Andalusia and Extremadura, implies the simplification and improvement in the specific territorial area of unemployment protection, and, in line with the objective of this reform, unifies the conditions of access with those contained in Royal Decree 5/1997, of January 10, which regulates the unemployment benefit in favor of temporary workers included in the Special Agricultural Regime of Social Security, with respect to persons who prove work carried out within the framework of the Agricultural Employment Promotion Program.

Finally, the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth final provisions regulate, respectively, the regulatory safeguard; the jurisdictional titles under which the norm is issued; compliance with the obligations of transposition of the Community regulations; the authorisation for regulatory development in favor of the Government; and, finally, what is related to the entry into force of the norm.
V
As regards the enabling assumption of extraordinary and urgent need established in article 86.1 of the Spanish Constitution, the content of the royal decree-law is based on objective reasons and political expediency that require its immediate approval.

As the Constitutional Court has repeatedly stated (thus, STC 61/2018, of June 7, FJ 5), the adequate control of the appeal to the decree-law requires the analysis of two aspects from the constitutional perspective: on the one hand, the explicit and reasoned presentation of the reasons that have been taken into account by the Government in its approval (STC 29/1982, of May 31, FJ 3; 111/1983, of December 2, FJ 5; 182/1997, of October 20, FJ 3; and 137/2003, of July 3, FJ 4) and, on the other hand, the existence of a necessary connection between the defined emergency situation and the specific measure adopted to address it (STC 29/1982, of May 31, FJ 3; 182/1997, of October 20, FJ 4). FJ 3, and 137/2003, of July 3, FJ 4).

As regards the definition of the emergency situation, it has been specified that it is not necessary for such an express definition of the extraordinary and urgent need to always be contained in the Royal Decree-Law itself, but that such a prerequisite can also be deduced from a plurality of elements. The examination of the concurrence of the enabling prerequisite of the “extraordinary and urgent need” must always be carried out by means of the joint assessment of all those factors that determined the Government to dictate the exceptional legal provision and which are, basically, those that are reflected in the explanatory statement of the norm, throughout the parliamentary debate on its validation, and in the file itself for its preparation (STC 29/1982, of May 31, FJ 4; 182/1997, of October 28, FJ 4; 11/2002, of January 17, FJ 4, and 137/2003, of July 3, FJ 3).

As regards the second dimension of the enabling budget for emergency legislation, conceived as a connection of meaning between the defined situation of need and the measures adopted in the royal decree-law, the use of the decree-law has generally been admitted in situations that have been classified as “problematic economic situations”, for whose treatment it represents a constitutionally lawful instrument, insofar as it is pertinent and adequate for achieving the end that justifies emergency legislation, which is none other than to provide for “specific situations of government objectives that for reasons that are difficult to foresee require immediate regulatory action within a shorter period than that required by the normal route or by the emergency procedure for the parliamentary processing of laws” (STC 31/2011, of March 17, FJ 4; 137/2011, of September 14, FJ 6, and 100/2012, of May 8, FJ 8).

Finally, the possible structural nature of the problem that is intended to be addressed does not exclude the possibility that said problem may become at a given time a case of extraordinary and urgent need, justifying the approval of a decree-law, which must be determined taking into account the circumstances concurrent in each case (STC 137/2011, FJ 6; reiterated in SSTC 183/2014, FJ 5; 47/2015, FJ 5, and 139/2016, FJ 3).

This regulation is used as an instrument for the transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019. The use of the royal decree-law as an instrument of transposition has been endorsed by the Constitutional Court in its judgment 1/2012 of 13 January, considering the existence of the enabling budget for extraordinary and urgent need when there is a “patent delay in the transposition of the corresponding directives” and “non-compliance proceedings against the Kingdom of Spain”.

It should also be noted that the Council of State, in its report on the incorporation of European law into the Spanish legal system of 14 February 2008, considers that, although it should not become an ordinary mechanism for the incorporation of directives, it is justified in light of, for example, “the deadline set by the Community standard, the need to urgently respond to certain circumstances or the existence of a declaration of non-compliance by the Court of Justice of the European Communities”. This is the case both for the amendment of article 37.4 of the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute and for the amendment of article 47 of the consolidated text of the Law on the Basic Statute of Public Employees, in order to fully comply with the provisions of article 9 of Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on flexible working arrangements.

On the other hand, as regards the amendments to the consolidated text of the Basic Statute of Public Employees, the flexible work formulas, together with the rest of the measures regarding working hours, derive from the self-organisation power of each Public Administration and are provided for in the instruments regulating the working hours of each Administration. This amendment provides these conciliation measures with a legal basis, to guarantee uniformity in the application of these instruments, as well as to provide for their basic application to carers who, in the terms of the Directive, will be those public employees who provide care to a person who lives in the same home and needs care for a serious medical reason.

As regards the additional provision introduced regarding the scope of application of Royal Decree 1435/1985, of August 1, which regulates the special employment relationship of artists who carry out their activity in the performing, audiovisual and musical arts, as well as of persons who carry out technical or auxiliary activities necessary for the development of said activity, it is undoubtedly the case that, despite the recent modifications made to the specific labour regulations for artists, the requirements established by the Council Implementing Decision on the approval of the evaluation of Spain’s recovery and resilience plan – and, in particular, the definition of the content to be addressed by milestone 352 – make it necessary to further update the system of trade union representation of artists.

Additionally, the Community requirement that the entry into force of the Artist’s Statute take place during 2022 configures the situation described in article 86.1 of the Spanish Constitution since, as required by the Constitutional Court for the use of this instrument, there is an explicit and reasoned motivation for the need, since the regulation of a new framework for union representation in the sector requires a rapid response, and urgency, assuming as such that the delay in the adoption of the measure in question through processing through ordinary regulatory channels would prevent compliance with the milestones set by the Council of the European Union.

As regards the changes contemplated in relation to the level of unemployment protection assistance, it should be stressed that the measures contained in this Royal Decree-Law constitute a key element in the fight against unemployment and in the configuration of a sustainable labour market.

This regulation introduces a series of measures that will have a direct impact on citizens and on the public service provided by the Administration, by increasing the unemployment protection granted, correcting the gaps in protection existing in the current regulation, while simplifying the procedure for doing so.

Furthermore, as reflected in the Operational Provisions of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, agreed by the Government of Spain and the European Commission, pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of February 12, 2021, Operational Provisions approved by the Commission Decision of October 29, 2021, the commitment made by Spain regarding the implementation of Reform 10 of Component 23 of the Plan constitutes milestone number 340 of this.

Thus, the need to comply with the milestone, in accordance with article 24.2 of the aforementioned Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of February 12, 2021, constitutes the enabling budget for the extraordinary and urgent need to issue this royal decree-law.

The urgent situation that motivates the reform of the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law has been caused by two main reasons. Firstly, the implementation of the minimum vital income, a figure regulated for the first time in 2020, aims to provide a minimum protection network for all citizens in a situation of economic and social vulnerability, among whom are the long-term unemployed who have exhausted their contributory and assistance benefits, which makes it decisive to proceed with the effective coordination of the two protective figures. On the other hand, the promulgation of Law 3/2023, of February 28, on Employment, reinforces the figure of the commitment to activity included in the previous regulations, transforming it into the activity agreement, through which rights and obligations are established between the person requesting public employment services and the corresponding Public Employment Service to increase the employability of the former, attending, where appropriate, to the needs of priority groups.

These two reasons require a rethinking of the regulation of unemployment protection at the assistance level, a new regulation that reinforces and contributes to focusing its function as a complementary benefit at the contributory level and, at the same time, corrects previous deficiencies in terms of its level of coverage, management complexity, or restricted compatibility formulas.

Regarding the regulation of the fractioning and partial compensation of unemployment benefits unduly received, it is necessary to regulate these procedures to provide greater flexibility for the reimbursement of benefits unduly received by economically less favoured workers, since currently only the total compensation of said undue benefits is regulated with the new recognised rights; the regulation in this matter completes that contained in Royal Decree-Law 1/2023, of January 10, and is closer to that which governs the field of Social Security. In addition, in the manner provided, while the processes for the reimbursement of benefits unduly received are streamlined and improved, the efficient use of public resources is guaranteed.

And finally, regarding access to unemployment protection for cross-border workers, the Comprehensive Socioeconomic Development Plans of the cities of Ceuta and Melilla establish, among their measures, the implementation during 2023 of regulatory modifications that grant protection to the aforementioned group of workers. Thus, in order to grant them the prescribed social protection in the shortest possible period of time, it is essential to urgently guarantee, in a law, the right to said protection, leaving to the regulatory determination the specific conditions under which unemployment protection will be provided to this group, in such a way that it is a law of the same rank as the consolidated text of the General Law on Social Security, which recognises this specialty to it.

In relation to the enabling situation of the final modifying provisions, it occurs to the extent that they are necessary and essential adjustments to meet the objective of the modification of the consolidated text of the General Law on Social Security in terms of unemployment protection at its assistance level.

Furthermore, with regard to the fifth and sixth final provisions, in particular, it is urgent and necessary, given the repealing provision provided for in Royal Decree-Law 16/2022, of September 6, not only to maintain the benefits for the hiring of caregivers in large families that were already being applied before April 1, 2024, but also to provide for the enjoyment and application of the same benefit in contracts that occur from that date, until the regulatory development provided for in the first additional provision of the aforementioned Royal Decree-Law takes place. All this, in order to provide coherence and guarantee equal treatment for families.

                                                            SAW
In preparing this standard, the principles of good regulation provided for in article 129 of Law 39/2015, of October 1, on the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations, have been observed, which require that they act in accordance with the principles of necessity, effectiveness, proportionality, legal certainty, transparency and efficiency.

This is done in terms of effectiveness and proportionality, since it regulates the essential aspects to enable the fulfilment of this objective.

Likewise, and in relation to the modification of the level of care, the principles of necessity and effectiveness are met insofar as this standard seeks to comply with the commitments made to the European Commission in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, specifically in Reform 10 of Component 23, and enabling the effective fulfilment of milestone 340 regulated in the aforementioned Plan.

Furthermore, this Royal Decree-Law strictly complies with the principles of proportionality and legal certainty, since there is no regulatory alternative for the implementation of the proposed measures, and is consistent with the legal system. It is also consistent with the rest of the legal system.

The problems identified and their solution sufficiently justify the need and opportunity for the regulatory project.

The regulation complies with the principle of transparency, and its justification is expressed in this explanatory statement, together with a reference to its structure and content. The most representative trade union and business organisations have been consulted directly.

The regulation also clearly identifies its purpose and provides a complete explanation of its content in the different phases of its processing, taking into account the provisions of article 26 of Law 50/1997, of November 27, of the Government.

Finally, this Royal Decree-Law complies with the principle of efficiency, since its application does not impose unnecessary or additional administrative burdens and allows for efficient management of public resources.

This Royal Decree-Law and the measures described do not affect environmental objectives and therefore comply with the principle of “do no significant harm”, within the meaning of Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2020 establishing a framework to facilitate sustainable investments and amending Regulation (EU) 2019/2088. Therefore, under the “do no significant harm” principle, no substantive assessment is required, in accordance with Articles 2.6) and 5.2 of Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021, and in accordance with the provisions of the Commission Communication Technical guidance on the application of the “do no significant harm” principle under the Regulation on the Recovery and Resilience Facility (2021/C 58/01).

This Royal Decree-Law is issued under the jurisdictional titles set out in Article 149.1.7.ª, 13.ª, 17.ª and 18.ª of the Spanish Constitution, which grants the State exclusive jurisdiction over matters of labour legislation, without prejudice to its execution by the bodies of the autonomous communities; in matters of bases and coordination of the general planning of economic activity, in matters of basic legislation and the economic regime of Social Security, without prejudice to the execution of its services by the autonomous communities, and in matters of bases of the statutory regime of public servants.

By virtue thereof, making use of the authorisation contained in article 86 of the Spanish Constitution, at the proposal of the Ministers of Labor and Social Economy, of Finance, of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, and of the Minister for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service, and after deliberation by the Council of Ministers at its meeting on May 21, 2024,

                                                      I HAVE:
Written in accordance with the correction of errors published in BOE No. 139, of June 8, 2024. Ref. BOE-A-2024-11614

Article 1. Amendment to the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute Law, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015, of 23 October.
The consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute Law, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015, of October 23, is modified as follows:

One. Article 37.4 is worded as follows:
«4. In the case of birth, adoption, foster care or adoption, in accordance with article 45.1.d), workers shall be entitled to one hour of absence from work, which may be divided into two parts, to care for the infant until the infant is nine months old. The duration of the leave shall be increased proportionally in the case of birth, adoption, foster care or multiple foster care.

Anyone who exercises this right, at their own will, may substitute it with a reduction of their working day by half an hour for the same purpose or accumulate it in full days.

The reduction in working hours contemplated in this section constitutes an individual right of employees, and its exercise cannot be transferred to another parent, adopter, guardian or foster parent. However, if two employees of the same company exercise this right for the same cause, its simultaneous exercise may be limited for well-founded and objective reasons for the operation of the company, duly justified in writing, and in such case the company must offer an alternative plan that ensures the enjoyment of both employees and that enables the exercise of the rights of conciliation.

When both parents, adopters, guardians or foster parents exercise this right with the same duration and regime, the period of enjoyment may be extended until the infant is twelve months old, with a proportional reduction in salary after nine months.

Two. Section 3 is amended, a new section 4 is introduced and the previous section 4 is renumbered as section 5 of article 84, all of which are worded as follows:«3. Notwithstanding the provisions of the previous article, within the scope of an autonomous community, trade unions and business associations that meet the requirements for legitimacy of articles 87 and 88 may negotiate collective agreements and inter-professional agreements of the autonomous community that will have priority over any other sectoral agreement or agreement at the state level, provided that said agreements and conventions obtain the support of the majorities required to constitute the negotiating committee in the corresponding negotiation unit and their regulation is more favorable for workers than that established in the state agreements or conventions.

4. Provincial collective agreements may have the same priority of application as provided for in the previous section when so provided for in inter-professional agreements at the regional level signed in accordance with article 83.2 and provided that their regulation is more favourable for workers than that established in state conventions or agreements.

5. In the cases provided for in the two preceding sections, the following shall be considered non-negotiable matters: the trial period, the types of contracts, the professional classification, the maximum annual working day, the disciplinary regime, the minimum standards for the prevention of occupational risks and geographical mobility.»

Three. A new twenty-eighth additional provision is introduced, with the following wording:

Twenty-eighth additional provision. Elections to representative bodies in the field of artists who carry out their activity in the performing, audiovisual and musical arts, as well as of persons who carry out technical or auxiliary activities necessary for the development of said activity.

As an exception to the provisions of article 69.2, persons engaged in artistic activities, as well as in the technical and auxiliary activities necessary for their development, included within the scope of Royal Decree 1435/1985, of 1 August, which regulates the special employment relationship of artists who carry out their activity in the performing, audiovisual and musical arts, as well as of persons who carry out technical or auxiliary activities necessary for the development of said activity, will be voters when they are over sixteen years of age and eligible when they are eighteen years of age and provided that, in both cases, they have a seniority in the company of at least twenty days. »

Article 2. Amendment to the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015, of 30 October.

The consolidated text of the General Social Security Law, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015, of October 30, is modified as follows:

One. Article 269.3 shall read as follows:

«3. When the right to the benefit expires because the holder has carried out one or more jobs with a cumulative duration of twelve months or more, without resuming unemployment benefit in between, he or she may choose, in the event that a new benefit is granted, between reopening the initial right for the period remaining and the bases and rates that corresponded to him or her, or receiving the benefit generated by the new contributions made. When the worker opts for the previous benefit, the contributions that generated that benefit for which he or she had not opted cannot be counted towards the recognition of a subsequent right, at a contributory or assistance level.»

Two. Article 271 is worded as follows:

«Article 271. Suspension of rights.

1. The right to receive unemployment benefits will be suspended by the managing entity in the following cases:

a) During the period corresponding to the imposition of sanctions for minor and serious infractions in the terms established in the consolidated text of the Law on Infractions and Sanctions in the Social Order.

If, at the end of the period referred to in the previous paragraph, the beneficiary of benefits is no longer registered as a job seeker or the activity agreement remains suspended, the resumption of the benefit will require prior proof of said registration and the reactivation of the activity agreement by the beneficiary, before the managing entity, by any means valid in law.

b) During the situation of birth, adoption, custody for adoption purposes or foster care, under the terms provided for in article 284.

c) While the holder of the right is serving a sentence that entails deprivation of liberty. The right will not be suspended if the holder requests its continuation by proving that the sum of the income of his or her family unit, divided by the number of members that comprise it, does not exceed the minimum inter-professional salary. For these purposes, the family unit will be constituted in accordance with the terms of article 275.

(d) While the holder of the right carries out work for another party, full-time or part-time, for a duration of less than twelve months, except in the cases and for the maximum period provided for in article 282.2 and 3, or while the holder of the right carries out work as a self-employed person for a duration of less than sixty months in the case of self-employed workers who are registered with the Special Social Security Regime for Self-Employed Workers or the Special Social Security Regime for Sea Workers, or for twenty-four months, in the case of activities with registration with a social security mutual fund as an alternative to the Special Social Security Regime for Self-Employed Workers.

(e) In the cases referred to in article 297 of the Law regulating social jurisdiction, while the worker continues to provide services or does not provide them at the will of the employer in the terms regulated in said article during the processing of the appeal. Once the final resolution is issued, the procedure established in article 268.5 will be followed.

f) In cases of moving residence abroad in which the beneficiary declares that it is for the purpose of searching for or carrying out work, professional development or international cooperation, for a continuous period of less than twelve months, provided that the departure abroad is previously communicated and authorised by the managing entity, without prejudice to the application of the provisions on the export of benefits in the European Union regulations.

g) In the event of a stay abroad for a period, continuous or not, of up to a maximum of ninety calendar days during each calendar year, provided that the departure abroad is previously communicated and authorised by the managing entity.

Going abroad for a period not exceeding thirty calendar days once a year will not be considered a stay or a change of residence, without prejudice to compliance with the obligations established in article 299.

h) When the beneficiaries of unemployment benefits fail to comply with the obligation to submit, within the established deadlines, the documents required by the managing entity, provided that these may affect the preservation of the right to benefits.

i) During periods in which the beneficiaries are not registered as job seekers with the competent public employment service, unless they are working full-time as employees and combining the benefit or subsidy as a supplement to support employment in accordance with the provisions of article 282.3.

j) During periods in which, in accordance with the communication from the competent Public Employment Service, the activity agreement is breached or suspended.

k) In the event of non-compliance with the provisions of article 299.1.k), the suspension will take place when the managing entity detects that the beneficiaries of benefits have failed to comply during a fiscal year with the obligation to file the Personal Income Tax return, under the conditions and deadlines provided for in the applicable tax regulations.

l) When fixed-discontinuous workers who are called to restart their activity do not return to their jobs, except for justified cause.

2. The suspension of the right to the benefit will entail the interruption of the payment of the same and will not affect the period of its receipt, except in the case provided for in section 1.a), in which the period of receipt of the benefit will be reduced by a time equal to that of the penalty imposed.

3. Unemployment benefits will resume:

a) Ex officio by the managing entity, in the cases set out in section 1.a) provided that the entitlement period has not expired.

b) Upon request of the interested party, in the cases set out in letters b), c), d), e), f) and g) of section 1, provided that it is proven that the cause for suspension has ended, and that, where applicable, this cause constitutes a legal situation of unemployment or registration as a job seeker in the case of self-employed workers.

If, after ceasing self-employment, the worker is entitled to unemployment benefit, he or she may choose between receiving this benefit or reopening the right to unemployment benefit that has been suspended.

The right to resume work will arise from the end of the cause of suspension provided that it is requested within the following fifteen days, and recognition of the resumption will require registration as a job seeker and reactivation of the activity agreement referred to in article 3 of Law 3/2023, of February 28, except in those cases in which the managing entity requires the signing of a new agreement.

If the application is submitted after the aforementioned period, the effects provided for in Article 268.2 will occur.

In the event that the period corresponding to paid annual leave has not been enjoyed, the provisions of Article 268.3 shall apply.

c) From the date on which it is proven that the legal requirements established for maintaining the right are met, in the cases of sections 1.h) and k).

d) From the date of registration as a job seeker, or reactivation of the activity agreement, unless the suspension of the benefit or its termination is required for any of the reasons provided for in this or another regulation, in the cases provided for in section 1. i) and j).

e) Upon request by the interested party, proving a new legal unemployment situation, in the case provided for in letter l) of section 1. The right to resume work will begin on the day following the legal unemployment situation, provided that it is requested within the following fifteen working days. Otherwise, the effects provided for in article 268.2 will occur.

Recognition of the resumption will require registration as a job seeker and the reactivation of the activity agreement referred to in article 3 of Law 3/2023, of February 28, except in those cases in which the managing entity requires the signing of a new agreement.

Three. Letters c) and d) of section 1 of article 272 are modified and a new letter h) is added to the aforementioned section, with the following wording:

«c) Carrying out work for another person for a period of twelve months or more, without prejudice to the right of option established in article 269.3, or carrying out work on one’s own account for a period of sixty months or more in the case of self-employed workers who are registered with the Special Social Security Scheme for Self-Employed Workers or the Special Social Security Scheme for Sea Workers, or twenty-four months in the case of activities with registration with a social security mutual fund as an alternative to the Special Social Security Scheme for Self-Employed Workers.»

“d) Compliance, by the holder of the right, with the ordinary age required in each case to be entitled to a contributory retirement pension, with the exceptions established in article 266.d).”

«h) The period of six years has elapsed since the date of withdrawal from the benefit without having resumed the right.»

Four. Article 274 shall be worded as follows:

«Article 274. Beneficiaries of unemployment benefits.

1. The beneficiaries of the subsidy will be unemployed persons who, fulfilling the requirements established in section 2, are in any of the following situations:

a) Having exhausted unemployment benefits. In the case of being under forty-five years of age without family responsibilities, it will also be required that the exhausted unemployment benefits have lasted for three hundred and sixty days or more.

b) Be legally unemployed without having completed the minimum contribution period to be entitled to contributory benefits, provided that they have contributed for at least ninety days.
In the event that several legal unemployment situations are proven in the six months prior to the application, for the purposes of determining the period of paid employment for the recognition of this subsidy, the provisions of article 269.2 will apply.

Those who have one or more part-time contracts may access these subsidies, provided that the sum of the days worked under said contracts is less than a full day and they meet the rest of the requirements.

2. In addition, on the date of the application for the subsidy, it will be required not to be entitled to contributory unemployment benefits, not to be in a situation of incompatibility and to lack own income, or alternatively, to prove family responsibilities.

3. The beneficiaries of the subsidy for workers over fifty-two years of age will be those who meet the requirements established in article 280.

4. In all cases, recognition of the right to the subsidy will require registration as a job seeker, as well as the signing of the activity agreement regulated in article 3 of Law 3/2023, of February 28.

Five. Article 275 shall read as follows:

«Article 275. Lack of income and family responsibilities.

1. The requirement of lack of own income on the date of the application for initial registration or for extensions or resumptions of the subsidy will be deemed to have been met when the income of any kind of the applicant or beneficiary during the calendar month prior to said dates does not exceed 75 percent of the minimum inter-professional salary, excluding the proportional part of two extra payments.

2. The requirement of family responsibilities will be deemed to have been met on the date of the application for initial registration or for extensions or resumptions of the subsidy when the sum of the income obtained during the calendar month prior to said dates by the entire family unit, including the applicant or beneficiary, divided by the number of members that comprise it, does not exceed 75 percent of the minimum inter-professional salary, excluding the proportional part of two extra payments.

3. For the purposes of this article, the family unit shall be understood to be composed of the applicant or beneficiary, his or her spouse or common-law partner and the children under twenty-six years of age, or older children with disabilities, or minors being fostered or in care for the purposes of adoption or fostering, who live with or are financially dependent on the applicant or beneficiary.

A de facto couple will be considered to be one formed with a relationship of affection similar to that of a spouse by those who, not being impeded from entering into marriage, do not have a marital bond, nor are they in a de facto couple with another person and who prove by means of a certificate of registration in one of the specific registers existing in the Autonomous Communities or Municipalities of the place of residence, where applicable, or a public document in which the constitution of said couple is recorded. Both the aforementioned registration and the formalisation of the corresponding public document must have occurred at least two years prior to the date of the application for the subsidy. The requirement of registration in a registry of de facto couples, or constitution of said couple in a public document, will not be required in the case of common children.

4. Any assets, rights or returns derived from work, movable or immovable capital, economic activities and those of a contributory or non-contributory, public or private, benefit nature shall be considered as computable income or revenue. Alimony and compensatory pensions agreed in the event of separation, divorce, annulment of marriage or in processes of adoption of parental measures when there is no cohabitation between the parents shall also be considered income.

In addition, income includes increases in assets derived from acts inter vivos or mortis causa, capital gains or capital gains, as well as the returns that can be deducted from the economic amount of the assets, applying 100 percent of the current legal interest rate to their value, with the exception of the dwelling habitually occupied by the worker and the assets whose income has been computed, all in accordance with the terms established by regulation.

Income will be computed based on its total or gross yield. Income from business, professional, agricultural, livestock or artistic activities will be computed based on the difference between income and the expenses necessary to obtain it.

5. The following are not considered computable income or revenue:

a) The amount of the contributions allocated to financing the special agreement with the Social Security Administration received by the applicant or beneficiary.

b) The amount corresponding to the legal compensation provided for in the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute Law for each of the cases of termination of the employment contract, regardless of whether its payment is a one-off or periodic payment. In any case, for the purposes set out in this article, any excess over said amount that may have been agreed upon shall be computed as income.

c) The amount of financial benefits obtained for attending vocational or work-related training activities or for undertaking external academic internships that form part of the study plan, obtained by the applicant or beneficiary or by any other member of the family unit.

d) For the purposes of resumption and extension of the subsidy, income derived from full-time or part-time employment earned by the beneficiary during the period of receipt of the employment support supplement.

e) Income from work and public benefits received by the applicant that are not maintained on the date of the application.

6. In order to determine whether the requirements of lack of income or family responsibilities are met in the application for initial registration, resumption and extensions of the subsidy, the interested party will sign a responsible declaration in which he/she must state all income and earnings obtained during the previous calendar month by himself/herself and, where applicable, by the other members of his/her family unit. This declaration will subsequently be compared with the data contained in his/her tax returns.

The concealment of income from the managing entity by applicants, which, if taken into account, would have led to the denial of the application for resumption or extension, will mean that the amount corresponding to the right recognised on the basis of the same will be declared to have been unduly received by the worker, for which reason it will be claimed from him in accordance with the provisions of article 295. Furthermore, said period, unduly received, will be understood as consumed for all purposes.

7. The requirements of lack of income and, where applicable, the existence of family responsibilities must be met on the date of the application for the subsidy, as well as on the date of the application for its extensions or resumption.

Six. Article 276 is worded as follows:

«Article 276. Applications, birth and extension of the right to the subsidy.

1. The right to unemployment benefit begins on the day following the event that caused the benefit, provided that it is requested within fifteen working days from the date of the event. If it is requested outside this period, but within six months from the date of the event, it will begin on the day of submission of the application.

If unemployment benefit is requested after six months have passed from the date of the event causing the benefit, the application will be denied, unless on the last day of this period the applicant is working for himself or another person, or is receiving temporary disability benefit or benefit for the birth and care of a minor, in which case the application period will be extended to fifteen working days following the end of the work or termination of the benefit.

The date of the event giving rise to the subsidy will be considered to be the date of exhaustion of the contributory unemployment benefit if the subsidy is accessed due to this circumstance, and the date of the last legal unemployment situation if it is accessed by proving insufficient contributions to access the contributory benefit.

In the event that after the date of the event causing the benefit, the person was self-employed or employed, in order to access the subsidy, the termination of the last job must be, respectively, involuntary or with a legal unemployment status.

2. In order to extend the subsidy up to its maximum duration provided for in article 277, each time three months of its receipt have accrued, the beneficiaries must submit an application for extension, accompanied by documentation proving that the access requirements have been maintained. This application must be submitted within fifteen working days following the end of the quarterly period. If submitted within this period, the subsidy will be extended from the day following the date of exhaustion of the quarterly entitlement period.

Otherwise, the right to an extension will take effect from the date of its application, provided that it is submitted within six months following the date of the end of the quarterly period. If the extension is requested outside this six-month period, the application will be denied, unless, on the last day of this period, the applicant is working for himself or for another, in which case the application period will be extended to fifteen working days following the end of the work. In this case, it will be required that the last cessation prior to the recognition of the extension be involuntary or constitute a legal situation of unemployment.

Seven. Article 277 shall read as follows:

«Article 277. Duration of the subsidy.

1. In the cases referred to in Article 274.1.a), the maximum duration of the unemployment benefit shall be determined based on the age of the applicant on the date of exhaustion of the unemployment benefit, proof of family responsibilities and the duration of the exhausted unemployment benefit, in accordance with the following table:

Those who have accessed the subsidy without proving family responsibilities may do so later, provided that said proof and the request for an extension of the subsidy takes place within the period of twelve months following the date of the event causing the subsidy. In this case, the maximum duration of the subsidy initially granted will be extended up to the amount corresponding to the duration of the exhausted contributory benefit.

2. In the cases referred to in Article 274.1.b), the maximum duration of the subsidy will be determined based on the period of employment paid and the proof of family responsibilities, according to the following table:

The contributions used to obtain the subsidy cannot be taken into account for the recognition of a future right to unemployment benefits or subsidies.

Those who have accessed the subsidy by proving six months of contributions without family responsibilities, may do so later, provided that said accreditation and the request for an extension of the subsidy take place within the period of twelve months following the date of the event causing the subsidy. In this case, the maximum duration of the subsidy initially granted will be extended to twenty-one months.

3. In all cases, the subsidy will be recognised for quarterly periods, extendable until the maximum duration is exhausted.

Eight. Article 278 is worded as follows:

«Article 278. Amount of the subsidy.

The amount of the subsidy will be equal to the following percentages of the monthly public indicator of multiple-effect income in force at any given time: 95 percent during the first one hundred and eighty days, 90 percent from day one hundred and eighty-one to day three hundred and sixty, and 80 percent from day three hundred and sixty-one.

Nine. Article 279 shall be worded as follows:

«Article 279. Suspension, resumption and termination of the right to the subsidy.

1. Once a quarterly period of the subsidy provided for in article 274.1 has been recognised, it will be suspended for the reasons provided for in article 271 and will be resumed in the manner and within the time periods provided for therein, provided that the beneficiary proves that he/she continues to comply with the access requirements.

If, on the date on which the situation that led to the suspension of the subsidy ends, the interested party does not meet the requirement of lack of income or family responsibilities, he or she may request its resumption when he or she meets it, provided that said request is submitted within the period of six months following the date of end of the cause of suspension. In this case, the resumption will take effect from the date of the request, without days consumed.

Except in the event that the worker has found himself in the situation provided for in the last paragraph of article 276.2, the resumption of the subsidy will not proceed if the application, fulfilling all the requirements for its recognition, is submitted outside the period of six months following the date on which the specific situation that implied its suspension ended without, for the purposes of calculating said period, other suspension situations being able to be accumulated to the first.

2. The subsidy provided for in article 274.1 shall expire for the reasons provided for in article 272, except for those regulated in its letter h), as well as after six months have elapsed since the end of the quarterly extension or since the end of the specific situation that entailed its suspension, except, in both cases, in the event that the worker is on that date in the situation provided for in the last paragraph of article 276.2, in which case it shall expire after the end of the period of fifteen working days following the end of the work without having requested the extension or resumption by proving that all the requirements for its recognition are met.

3. The subsidy for workers over 52 years of age provided for in article 274.3 shall be suspended, resumed and terminated in accordance with the provisions of article 280.»

Ten. Article 280 is worded as follows:

«Article 280. Beneficiaries of unemployment benefits for persons over fifty-two years of age.

1. Workers who, on the date on which they find themselves in the situation provided for in article 274.1, have reached that age and, in addition, on the date of the event giving rise to the subsidy established in article 276.1, meet all the requirements, except age, to access any type of contributory retirement pension in the Social Security system, have effectively paid unemployment contributions in Spain for at least six years throughout their working life, without article 235 being applicable for these purposes, and meet the requirements established in section 2, may access the subsidy for those over fifty-two years of age.

Persons who, on the date on which they found themselves in the situation provided for in article 274.1, met all the requirements established in the first paragraph of this section, except for having reached the age of fifty-two, may apply for access to this subsidy from the date on which they reach that age, provided that they meet the rest of the requirements established in the first paragraph and that they have remained continuously registered as job seekers with the public employment services from the date of exhaustion of the contributory benefit or the legal unemployment situation, until the date of the application. In this case, the date of the causal event shall be considered to be the date on which they reach the age of fifty-two.

For the purposes of this provision, persons who have received or exhausted the Active Insertion Income regulated by Royal Decree 1369/2006, of November 24, which regulates the active insertion income program for unemployed persons with special economic needs and difficulty in finding employment, the benefit for cessation of activity regulated in Title V or the extraordinary unemployment subsidy provided for in the twenty-seventh additional provision of this law, are not assimilated to those who are in the situation provided for in Article 274.1.

The requirement of uninterrupted registration will be deemed to have been met when each of the possible interruptions has lasted less than ninety calendar days, not counting the periods corresponding to the performance of self-employed or employed activity. In the latter case, the worker will not be able to access the subsidy if the cessation of the last job was voluntary.

Those who meet all the requirements set out in the first paragraph of this section on the date on which they are entitled to resume any subsidy, as well as those who, meeting said requirements, reach the age of fifty-two during the receipt of any of the subsidies provided for in article 274, may also apply for the subsidy for workers over fifty-two years of age. In this case, the date of the resumption of the subsidy will be considered as the date of the event causing the benefit.

2. To access the subsidy for those over fifty-two years of age, workers must prove, on the date of submission of the application, that they do not have their own income, in accordance with the terms set out in article 275.1.
Compliance with the requirement of lack of own income must be maintained throughout the period of receipt of the subsidy.

3. The right to unemployment benefit will start on the day following the event that caused the benefit, provided that it is requested within fifteen working days following the date of the event. If the request is made outside this period, the right to the benefit will start on the day the application is submitted.

4. The amount of unemployment benefit for workers over fifty-two years of age will be equal to 80 percent of the monthly public indicator of multiple-purpose income in force at any given time.

5. The subsidy for workers over fifty-two years of age will be suspended for the reasons provided for in article 271 and will be resumed in the manner and within the time periods provided therein.

Likewise, the subsidy for workers over fifty-two years of age will be suspended for the following reasons:

a) When twelve months have passed since the date of birth of the right or its last renewal, in the event that the interested party has not submitted the annual income tax return provided for in section 8 within the period established therein.

b) On the date on which the requirement of lack of own income ceases to be met, if said non-compliance lasts less than twelve months.

The right will be resumed, in the event provided for in letter a) above, from the date on which it is requested by submitting the annual income declaration that proves that the requirements are still met, and in the event provided for in letter b), from the date on which the requirement of lack of income is again met, provided that in this case, the application for resumption is submitted within the period of fifteen working days following said compliance. Otherwise, the subsidy will be resumed from the date of its application.

The requested resumption will be denied after twelve months have elapsed from the effective date of the suspension of the subsidy.

This period of twelve months shall be extended by the period equivalent to that during which work is carried out on a self-employed or employed basis. In this case, it shall be required that the last cessation prior to resumption of employment be involuntary or constitute a legal situation of unemployment.

6. The subsidy will be extinguished for the reasons provided for in article 272, except for those regulated in letter h) of said article, as well as for failure to comply with the requirement of lack of income for a period equal to or greater than twelve months. Likewise, the subsidy will be extinguished after twelve months have passed since the effective date of its suspension without having been resumed, except as provided for in the last paragraph of the previous section.

7. Beneficiaries of the subsidy for those over fifty-two years of age will be obliged to inform the managing entity of any increase in their income that could affect the maintenance of their right, at the time when such circumstance occurs.

8. Without prejudice to the provisions of the previous section, in order to continue receiving the subsidy for workers over fifty-two years of age, beneficiaries must submit to the managing entity an annual declaration of their income, accompanied by the corresponding supporting documentation.

This declaration must be submitted every time twelve months have passed since the date of the right’s birth or since the date of its last renewal, within fifteen business days following the date on which the indicated period is completed.

When, during the processing of the annual income tax return, the beneficiary reports or the managing entity detects that, during any period within the previous twelve months, the requirements for lack of income have ceased to be met, the subsidy will be suspended for the period during which said requirements have ceased to be met, regularising the periods and amounts received.

If non-compliance with the requirements during any period within the twelve months prior to the date on which the annual income tax return must be submitted is not communicated by the beneficiary at the time it occurred or on the occasion of the first annual income tax return after said circumstance occurred, nor could it have been detected during the processing of this first annual income tax return by the managing entity, once confirmed by the latter, it will proceed to regularise the right for the period corresponding to non-compliance with the requirements, as well as to initiate the corresponding sanctioning procedure for not communicating the occurrence of a cause for suspension of the right at the time it occurred.

9. The managing entity will pay contributions for the contingency of retirement during the receipt of unemployment benefits for workers over fifty-two years of age.

Contributions made in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall be effective for the calculation of the regulatory base for the retirement pension and the percentage applicable to it in any of its forms, as well as for completing the time required for access to early retirement. In no case shall said contributions be legally valid and effective to prove the minimum contribution period required in article 205.1.b), which, in accordance with the provisions of section 1, must have been proven on the date of application for the subsidy regulated in this article.

For the purposes of determining the contribution, the contribution base will be taken as 125 percent of the minimum contribution base in the General Social Security Regime, in force at any given time.

If you receive the employment support supplement, the contribution base will be reduced in proportion to the hours worked.

The Government may extend the provisions of this section to other groups of workers.

Eleven. Article 282 is worded as follows:

«Article 282. Incompatibilities.

1. Unemployment benefits and subsidies shall be incompatible with self-employment, even if their performance does not imply mandatory inclusion in any of the Social Security schemes or in any alternative social security mutual fund to the Special Social Security Scheme for Self-Employed Workers.

In general, unemployment benefits and subsidies will be incompatible with obtaining contributory economic benefits from Social Security, unless these have been compatible with the work that gave rise to the benefit or subsidy.

2. Unemployment benefits shall be incompatible with paid employment, except when the latter is carried out on a part-time basis and the worker has requested compatibility, in which case the proportional part of the time worked shall be deducted from the amount of the benefit. If compatibility is requested within fifteen working days following the date of commencement of the employment relationship, it shall apply from that date. Otherwise, it shall apply from the date of the application, provided that it is submitted before twelve months have elapsed since the date of commencement of the employment relationship.

The deduction referred to in the previous paragraph will be made in addition to when the worker is receiving unemployment benefits as a result of the loss of a full-time or part-time job and obtains a new part-time job, when he or she has several part-time contracts and loses one of them.

 

3. For those who access unemployment benefit by maintaining one or more part-time contracts, as well as for those who, being beneficiaries of the same, begin a full-time or part-time employment relationship, the benefit will be compatible as a supplement to support employment in accordance with the provisions of this article.

The amount of the employment support supplement will be determined, each quarter, based on the working hours agreed at the start of the compatibility and the quarter in which the recipient of the support supplement is at any given time with respect to the start of the subsidy, according to the following table:

Situations of multiple employment and changes in working hours that occur after the amount of the employment support supplement has been determined will not have any effect on it.

The employment support supplement will be received as long as the employment relationship that gave rise to it is maintained. During its receipt, regardless of the percentage applied, as many days of the duration of the subsidy will be consumed as the days received as the employment support supplement.

Its maximum duration will be one hundred and eighty days, which may be received in one or successive compatibility periods, with the limit of the number of days remaining to be received from the maximum duration of the granted subsidy. Once the previous limit is reached or the maximum duration of the subsidy is exhausted, it will be suspended due to the performance of work for another person and subject to the general conditions for resumption for this reason or extinguished due to exhaustion, respectively.

The termination or suspension of the employment relationship, or the interruption of the fixed discontinuous activity that has given rise to the employment support supplement, must be communicated to the managing entity by the beneficiary, within the following fifteen working days, and will imply the suspension of the subsidy, which may be resumed without compatibility upon request of the interested party provided that he/she proves a legal situation of unemployment and registration as a job seeker and meets the requirements of lack of income or family responsibilities.

However, if on the date of termination or suspension of said employment relationship, or interruption of activity, another relationship is maintained, the employment support supplement may continue to be received as regulated in this section, subject to an adjustment of its amount taking into account the agreed ordinary working day and the quarter in which the subsidy is found at the time the variation takes effect.

The subsidy cannot be combined with employment when the contract is made by:

a) Companies that have authorised a redundancy plan at the time of hiring.

b) Companies in which the unemployed person receiving the subsidy has worked in the previous twelve months.

The compatibility provided for in this section will not apply to employment relationships suspended by virtue of a redundancy plan or the RED Mechanism, nor when it concerns contracts that affect the spouse, ascendants, descendants and other relatives by blood or affinity, or where appropriate by adoption, up to the second degree inclusive, of the employer or of those who hold management positions or are members of the administrative bodies of entities or companies that have the legal form of a corporation, as well as those that occur with the latter.

4. The benefit and subsidy will be compatible with the receipt of any type of minimum income, social wages or similar social assistance aid granted by any Public Administration, and with the receipt of non-contributory economic benefits from Social Security, except for retirement.

5. The benefit and subsidy will be compatible with the completion of training internships, external academic internships included in vocational training programs or on-the-job training programs.

6. The unemployment benefits and subsidy regulated in Title III and in the fifty-seventh and fifty-eighth additional provisions are incompatible with the social protection measures provided for in the forty-first and forty-sixth additional provisions of the same, directed, respectively, to workers affected by the RED Mechanism and by temporary employment regulation files authorized based on the provisions of article 47.5 and 6 of the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute Law.

7. When established by a programme to promote employment aimed at groups with difficulty entering the labour market, the receipt of the contributory unemployment benefit pending receipt may be compatible with self-employment, in which case the managing entity may pay the worker the monthly amount of the benefit in the amount and duration determined, without including the Social Security contribution.

Twelve. A new section 3 is added to article 283 with the following wording:

«3. The provisions of the preceding sections shall apply to temporary fixed-term workers during periods of productive inactivity.»

Thirteen. Article 284 is worded as follows:

«Article 284. Unemployment benefit and birth and care of a minor.

1. When the worker is in a situation of birth, adoption, foster care or adoption and during these situations becomes included in any of the situations provided for in article 267.1, he/she will continue to receive the corresponding benefit until these situations are extinguished, then passing to the legal situation of unemployment and receiving, if he/she meets the necessary requirements, unemployment benefit. In this case, the time spent in a situation of birth, adoption, foster care or adoption will not be deducted from the period of receipt of contributory unemployment benefit.

2. When the worker is receiving full unemployment benefit and moves into the situation of birth, adoption, foster care or adoption, he/she will receive the benefit for these latter contingencies in the corresponding amount.

In this case, your unemployment benefit and Social Security contributions provided for in article 265.1.a).2. will be suspended and you will begin to receive the benefit corresponding to your situation, managed directly by your managing entity. Once this has expired, unemployment benefit will be resumed, under the terms set out in article 271.4.b) for the duration remaining to be received and the amount that corresponded at the time of suspension.

Fourteen. Article 286.1 is worded as follows:
«1. Workers included in the Special System for Self-Employed Agricultural Workers are required to pay unemployment contributions and are entitled to unemployment protection in accordance with the general provisions of this title, with the specialities established in this section.

The spouse, descendants, ascendants and other relatives, by blood or marriage up to the second degree inclusive and, where appropriate, by adoption, of the owner of the agricultural holding in which they work will not be eligible for unemployment contributions, nor will they be entitled to unemployment benefits for the corresponding periods of activity, provided that they live with him, unless their status as an employee is proven.

Fifteen. Article 287 is worded as follows:

«Article 287. Unemployment protection for temporary agricultural workers.

1. To be entitled to the unemployment benefits regulated in this title, temporary agricultural employees must meet the requirements established in article 266. However, if they were immediately previously registered with Social Security as self-employed or freelance workers, the minimum contribution period required to access unemployment benefits will be seven hundred and twenty days, with the scale provided for in article 269.1 being applied from that period onwards.

2. The provisions of the previous section shall apply regardless of whether the work for which legal unemployment is proven is temporary agricultural work or not, if the greatest number of unemployment contributions proven correspond to said temporary agricultural work.

3. Contributions for actual working days that have been computed for the recognition of general unemployment benefits or the subsidy established in article 274.1.b) may not be computed for the recognition of the unemployment subsidy in favour of temporary agricultural workers established in Royal Decree 5/1997, of 10 January, nor for the recognition of agricultural income regulated in Royal Decree 426/2003, of 11 April; and those computed to recognise the aforementioned subsidy or agricultural income may not be computed to obtain general unemployment benefits.

4. If the temporary agricultural worker meets the requirements to obtain unemployment protection at the contributory or assistance level regulated in this title, as well as to access the unemployment subsidy established in Royal Decree 5/1997, of January 10, or the agricultural income, regulated in Royal Decree 426/2003, of April 11, he/she may opt for one of the two rights, applying the following rule:

If you apply for unemployment benefit regulated by Royal Decree 5/1997, dated 10 January, or agricultural income established in Royal Decree 426/2003, dated 11 April, all actual working days worked under the Special System for Self-Employed Agricultural Workers, regardless of their number, will be taken into account to meet the requirements established, respectively, in articles 2.1.c) and 2.1.d) of the aforementioned royal decrees. Unemployment contributions prior to the date of recognition of said benefit or agricultural income, which have not been computed for obtaining such rights, may be computed for the recognition of a subsequent right, at a contributory or assistance level.
Sixteen. Article 295 shall be worded as follows:

«Article 295. Refund of undue payments.

1. It is the responsibility of the competent managing entity to declare and demand the return of benefits unduly received by workers and the reimbursement of benefits for whose payment the employer is directly responsible.

Once the respective period set for the reimbursement of benefits unduly received or corporate liability has elapsed without the same having been made, it will be up to the General Treasury of Social Security to proceed with its collection by executive means in accordance with the regulations governing the collection management of Social Security, with the surcharge and late payment interest accruing under the terms and conditions established in this law.

2. In order to exercise this power, the managing entity may arrange the services it considers appropriate with the General Treasury of Social Security or with any of the public administrations.

3. The managing entity may grant partial compensation, as well as the payment in instalments for the reimbursement of unemployment benefits unduly received, under the terms and conditions established by regulation, at the request of the person responsible for the same, which must be submitted prior to the start of its collection by executive means. Both the partial compensation and the payment instalments will include the principal of the debt, as well as the surcharge that was payable on the date of its request. In addition, the payment instalments will accrue interest, from the time of its concession until the date of payment, according to the late payment interest that is in force at any time during its duration.

Seventeen. Article 299 is worded as follows:
«Article 299. Obligations of workers, applicants and beneficiaries of unemployment benefits.

1. The following are obligations of workers and applicants and beneficiaries of unemployment benefits:

a) Pay the contribution corresponding to the unemployment contingency.

b) Provide the documentation and information that is determined by regulation for the purposes of recognition, suspension, termination or resumption of the right to benefits and notify the regional public employment services and the managing entity of the address and, where appropriate, the change of address, provided for notification purposes, at the time when this occurs.

Without prejudice to the foregoing, when the receipt of communications at the address provided by the applicant or beneficiary of benefits is not guaranteed, the applicant or beneficiary will be obliged to provide the regional public employment services and the managing entity with the data they require so that the communication can be made by electronic means.

c) Register as a job seeker, maintain the registration, sign and comply with the requirements of the activity agreement under the terms referred to in article 3 of Law 3/2023, of February 28.

d) Appear, when previously required, before the managing entity, the public employment services or the placement agencies when carrying out activities within the scope of collaboration with them.

e) Actively seek employment and participate in actions to improve employability determined by the competent public employment services, where appropriate, within an insertion itinerary.

Recipients of benefits shall provide proof to the State Public Employment Service, the Social Institute of the Navy and the regional public employment services, when required to do so, of the actions they have taken aimed at actively seeking employment, their reintegration into the labour market or improving their employability. This proof shall be provided in the manner determined by these bodies within the framework of mutual collaboration. Failure to provide proof shall be considered a breach of the activity agreement.

f) Participate in employment programs, or in actions for promotion, training or professional retraining, determined by public employment services, or by placement agencies when they carry out activities in the field of collaboration with those and accept the appropriate placement offered by public employment services or by said agencies.

g) Return to the public employment services, or, where appropriate, to the employment agencies when they carry out activities within the scope of collaboration with them, within a period of five days, the corresponding proof of having appeared at the place and date indicated to cover the job offers provided by them.

h) Request cancellation of unemployment benefits when situations of incompatibility, suspension or termination of the right occur or the requirements for receiving them are no longer met at the time of the occurrence of said situations.

i) Communicate situations of interruption of the discontinuous fixed activity, suspension or termination of the employment relationship that gave rise to the employment support supplement.

j) Refund any benefits unduly received.

k) Submit the corresponding declaration for Personal Income Tax annually.

2. For these purposes, unemployed workers will be considered beneficiaries of unemployment benefits during the fifteen working day period of requesting extensions of unemployment benefits established in article 276.2, as well as during the precautionary or definitive suspension of unemployment benefits or subsidies as a result of a sanctioning procedure or as established in article 271.1.h).»

Eighteen. An additional provision fifty-fourth is added, with the following wording:

“Additional provision fifty-fourth. Guarantee of services to beneficiaries of the assistance level.

Beneficiaries of unemployment benefits will be guaranteed, in any case, access to the personalised itinerary or plan appropriate to their profile, as provided for in article 56.1.c) of Law 3/2023, of February 28, and within the framework of the activity agreement provided for in article 3 of the aforementioned Law.

Nineteen. An additional provision fifty-fifth is added, with the following wording:

“Additional provision fifty-fifth. Financial evaluation and improvement of employability.

Within the framework of the evaluation of the employment policy established in Title VI of Law 3/2023, of February 28, a specific evaluation will be carried out of the effectiveness and impact of the level of assistance for unemployment protection in improving the employability of the beneficiaries of this.

Twenty. An additional provision fifty-sixth is added, with the following wording:

«Additional provision fifty-sixth. Extraordinary access to contributory unemployment benefits for cross-border workers in the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla.

Workers residing in the Kingdom of Morocco who have carried out their last employment relationship in the cities of Ceuta and Melilla, covered by a work permit for cross-border workers, may access unemployment protection at a contributory level without needing to prove residence in Spain, provided that they meet all the requirements established in the applicable legislation and under the conditions established by regulation.

Twenty-one. An additional provision fifty-seventh is added, with the following wording:

«Additional provision fifty-seventh. Access to unemployment benefits for returned emigrants.

1. The beneficiaries of the unemployment benefit regulated in this provision will be Spanish workers who prove their status as returned emigrants by means of the Returned Emigrant Certificate issued by the Department or Department of Labor and Immigration of the Delegation or Sub-delegation of the Government of the province corresponding to the address where they have established their residence in Spain, as well as compliance with the following requirements:

a) Be unemployed and not entitled to contributory unemployment benefits.

b) Be registered as job seekers and have signed the activity agreement regulated in article 3 of Law 3/2023 of February 28.

c) Having returned from countries that do not belong to the European Economic Area, or with which there is no agreement on unemployment protection.

d) Having worked in the aforementioned countries for at least twelve months in the last six years since their last departure from Spain. Children or grandchildren of Spanish emigrants who are going to establish permanent residence in Spain for the first time must have exercised Spanish nationality during the twelve months of work.

e) Not having received unemployment benefits in the country of emigration.

f) Lack of income in accordance with the terms established in article 275.

2. The date of the event giving rise to access to the subsidy regulated in this provision is the date on which the person returns to Spain to establish permanent residence.

3. For the purposes of applications, the creation and extension of the right to this subsidy, the provisions of Article 276 shall apply.

4. The maximum duration of the subsidy will be eighteen months and its amount will be determined in accordance with the provisions of Article 278.

5. This subsidy is incompatible with self-employment, although it does not imply mandatory inclusion in any of the Social Security schemes or in any alternative social welfare mutual fund. This subsidy will apply the compatibility regime established in article 282.3.

6. The subsidy regulated in this provision shall be suspended, resumed and extinguished in accordance with the provisions of article 279.1 and 2.

7. In any matter not expressly provided for in this provision, the provisions of Title III shall apply.

Twenty-two. An additional provision fifty-eighth is added, with the following wording:

“Additional provision fifty-eighth. Access to unemployment benefits for victims of gender or sexual violence.

1. The beneficiaries of the unemployment benefit regulated in this provision will be victims of gender or sexual violence who also meet the following requirements:

a) Not being entitled to contributory unemployment benefits.

b) Not having been beneficiaries of three rights to the active insertion income program regulated in Royal Decree 1369/2006, of November 24, even if they had not been enjoyed for the maximum duration period of the income, unless, from the date of birth of the first of the rights until the date of the application for the subsidy regulated in this provision, three or more years had elapsed.

c) Be registered as job seekers and have signed the activity agreement regulated in article 3 of Law 3/2023, of February 28.

d) Not having own income in accordance with the terms set out in article 275.1, except in the case of having a spouse, de facto partner and/or children under twenty-six years of age, or older children with disabilities, or minors who are being fostered or in care for the purposes of adoption or fostering, in which case the requirement of having family responsibilities must be met in accordance with the provisions of sections 2 and 3 of the same article.

2. The following persons shall be considered victims of gender-based and sexual violence: those referred to, respectively, in article 1.1 and 4 of Organic Law 1/2004, of December 28, on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender-Based Violence, and in article 3.1 and 2 of Organic Law 10/2022, of September 6, on the comprehensive guarantee of sexual freedom.

3. Situations of gender or sexual violence that give rise to the recognition of unemployment benefits will be accredited, respectively, in accordance with the provisions of article 23 of Organic Law 1/2004, of December 28, on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence, and according to the provisions of article 37 of Organic Law 10/2022, of September 6, on the comprehensive guarantee of sexual freedom.

4. The date of the event giving rise to access to the subsidy regulated in this provision is the date on which the competent Administration issues the corresponding report certifying that the person is a victim of gender-based or sexual violence, the date on which the report of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is issued, or the date on which the interested party is notified of the corresponding court ruling or decision.

5. For the purposes of applications, the creation and extension of the right to this subsidy, the provisions of Article 276 shall apply.

6. The amount of the subsidy provided for in this provision shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of Article 278.

7. The maximum duration of the subsidy, in this case, will be thirty months, unless the person had previously been a beneficiary of one or two rights to the Active Insertion Income program regulated by Royal Decree 1369/2006, of November 24, in which case, the maximum duration will be twenty and ten months, respectively.

8. The subsidy regulated in this provision shall be suspended, resumed and terminated in accordance with the provisions of Article 279.1 and 2.

9. This subsidy is incompatible with self-employment, although it does not imply mandatory inclusion in any of the Social Security schemes or in any alternative social welfare mutual fund. This subsidy shall be subject to the compatibility regime established in article 282.3.

10. Persons who have exhausted the maximum duration of the subsidy that corresponds in each case for being victims of gender or sexual violence, may access it again if they request it, proving that they meet the required conditions, once three or more years have passed since the birth of the first right to the active income for insertion as a victim of gender or sexual violence or since the birth of the right to the subsidy regulated in this provision, in the event of not having previously received the active income for insertion as a victim of gender or sexual violence.

11. The provisions of this provision shall apply to victims of violence perpetrated by their parents or children. In this case, the situation of violence shall be proven by a court ruling or any other judicial decision ordering a precautionary measure in favour of the victim, or by a report from the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

12. In any matter not expressly provided for in this provision, the provisions of Title III shall apply.

Twenty-three. An additional provision fifty-ninth is added with the following wording:

“Additional provision fifty-ninth. Compatibility regime applicable to unemployment benefits.

1. Notwithstanding the provisions of article 282, contributory unemployment benefits arising from 1 April 2025, the recognised period of entitlement of which exceeds twelve months, once the first nine months have been accrued, shall be compatible with full-time and part-time employment in the same manner, conditions and effects as provided for unemployment benefits in section 3 of the aforementioned article, with the particularities provided for in this provision.

The beneficiary may withdraw the application for compatibility by submitting an application to this effect. If said application is submitted within fifteen working days following the effectiveness of the employment support supplement for the start of the employment relationship or for the start of the tenth month of accrual of the benefit while maintaining one or more part-time contracts, the benefit will be suspended for carrying out full-time or part-time work for another person from the date of the start of said work or from the start of the tenth month of accrual. If requested outside said period, the benefit will be suspended from the date on which it is requested. In both cases, once the benefit has been suspended, it will be subject to the general conditions for resumption by placement, without the possibility of combining it, from then on, with part-time work in accordance with the provisions of article 282.2.

2. Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 282, contributory unemployment benefits arising before 1 April 2025, the entitlement period for which is longer than twelve months, shall, from that date and once the first nine months have been accrued, be compatible with full-time employment, in the same manner, conditions and with the same effects as those provided for unemployment benefits in section 3 of the aforementioned article, with the particularities provided for in this provision, and upon request by the beneficiary. If the application is submitted within fifteen working days following the start of the employment relationship, the employment support supplement will be received from the start of the employment relationship. If the application is submitted outside this period, it will take effect from the date of submission of the application.
3. The amount and duration of the employment support supplement applicable to contributory benefits will be determined in accordance with the following table:

To determine the maximum duration, the month in which the benefit is awarded will be taken into account. The amount of the employment support supplement will be determined, each month from the thirteenth month onwards, based on the working hours agreed upon at the start of the compatibility and the month in which the recipient of the support supplement is at any given time, according to the table above.

4. Access to the subsidy provided for in article 274.1.a) or in article 280 as a result of the exhaustion of unemployment benefits granted as from 1 April 2025 shall be understood, for the purposes of determining the initial amount of the employment support supplement, as a continuation of said benefit. Thus, for those who access these subsidies after having exhausted an unemployment benefit of more than twelve months, the amount of the employment support supplement for compatibility with full-time and part-time employment shall be determined in accordance with the table in article 282.3, considering as a temporal reference the number of months elapsed at any given time from the thirteenth month of benefit.

5. The contributory unemployment benefit will be incompatible with employment when the gross monthly salary is greater than 375 percent of the IPREM in the manner established by regulation.

6. The employment support supplement as compatibility with contributory benefits will have the legal nature of a contributory unemployment benefit for all purposes.

7. During the period of receipt of the supplement for full-time employment support compatible with unemployment benefits and subsidies, the managing entity will not pay Social Security contributions. When this supplement is compatible with part-time placement, the managing entity will pay contributions by reducing the contribution base in proportion to the time worked.»

Twenty-fourth. A new forty-fourth transitional provision is added, with the following wording:

«Forty-fourth transitional provision. Transitional regime of compatibility of unemployment benefits.

The compatibility regime as a supplement to support for employment of subsidies for returned emigrants and for victims of gender or sexual violence, regulated in additional provisions fifty-seventh and fifty-eighth, with self-employed work will be applicable from June 1, 2025.

In the period from 1 November 2024 to 31 May 2025, both subsidies will be incompatible with paid employment, except when this is done part-time and compatibility has been recognised because the beneficiary meets all the requirements for it, in which case the proportional part of the time worked will be deducted from its amount. This deduction will be made in addition to when the subsidy is accessed by maintaining a part-time contract, when the subsidy is being received and a part-time job is obtained. In the latter case, if compatibility is requested within fifteen working days following the start date of the employment relationship, it will be applied from that date, and if it is requested after said period has elapsed, it will be applied from the date of the application.

Section 7 drafted in accordance with the correction of errors published in BOE No. 139, of June 8, 2024. Ref. BOE-A-2024-11614

Article 3. Amendment to the consolidated text of the Basic Statute of Public Employees, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015, of 30 October.

Article 47 of the consolidated text of the Basic Statute of Public Employees, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015, of October 30, is worded as follows:

«Article 47. Working hours of public officials.

1. Public Administrations shall establish the general and special working hours of their public officials. The working day may be full-time or part-time.

2. Public Administrations will adopt flexible working hours measures to ensure the reconciliation of family and work life for public employees who have children under the age of twelve in their care, as well as for public employees who have care needs for children over the age of twelve, the spouse or de facto partner, blood relatives up to the second degree, as well as other persons who live in the same home and who for reasons of age, accident or illness cannot care for themselves.

First additional provision. Comprehensive strategy for the employment of long-term unemployed or older workers and guarantee of services for beneficiaries over forty-five years of age.

1. Within six months, the Government will draw up, within the framework of social dialogue, a comprehensive strategy for the employment of long-term unemployed or older workers, which will include measures on employment, training, working conditions and social security, with the aim of promoting their reintegration into the labour market or their continued presence therein.

2. Within the budgetary funds distributed annually to the Autonomous Communities at the Conference on Employment and Labour Affairs, an amount will be reserved to be invested in active employment policies in favour of persons over fifty-two years of age.

3. Beneficiaries of unemployment benefits over the age of forty-five will be guaranteed that, over the six months following the entry into force of this Royal Decree-Law, an individual profile will be drawn up for them, which will allow them to access employment, entrepreneurship or training opportunities.

Second additional provision. Evaluation of the reform of the unemployment assistance system.

Two years after the entry into force of this Royal Decree-Law, the Government will create an inter-ministerial commission with the aim of evaluating the effects of the reform of the level of unemployment assistance contemplated in this regulation, as well as studying the harmonisation of economic benefits of an assistance nature in the Social Security system. This commission will be made up of the Ministries of Labor and Social Economy, Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Economy, Trade and Enterprise, and Finance.

For the same purpose and within the same time frame, the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy will convene the most representative trade union and business organisations, which will also analyse the effectiveness of the investment made in active employment policies for people over fifty-two years of age.

Third additional provision. Control of the application of the new compatibility regime.

1. Within the framework of the collaboration agreement signed by the State Public Employment Service and the Labour and Social Security Inspection Agency, the cases of compatibility of unemployment benefits and salaried work that must be the subject of inspection actions to control fraud in obtaining and enjoying unemployment benefits and in the hiring of workers will be determined.

2. Within one year of the entry into force of this Royal Decree-Law, the service that allows the application of the limit of 375 percent of the IPREM, established in section 4 of the fifty-ninth additional provision of the consolidated text of the General Law on Social Security, introduced by this Royal Decree-Law, will be implemented.

Additional provision four. Compliance with the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.

The measures regulated in this Royal Decree-Law comply with the milestones committed to with the European Union, specifically Reform 10, of Component 23 relating to the simplification and improvement of the level of unemployment assistance, without prejudice to the fact that within the framework of social dialogue an analysis of the unemployment protection system as a whole, including active employment policies, is addressed.

Additional provision five. Reduction of the minimum number of actual days worked to access unemployment benefits or agricultural income in favour of temporary agricultural workers residing in the territory of the Autonomous Communities of Andalusia and Extremadura.

1. Temporary agricultural workers who, on the date of entry into force of this Royal Decree-Law, are included in the Special System for Agricultural Workers, established in the General Social Security Regime and, on said date, reside in the territory of the Autonomous Communities of Andalusia and Extremadura, may be beneficiaries of the unemployment benefit regulated by Royal Decree 5/1997, of January 10, which regulates the unemployment benefit for temporary workers included in the Special Agricultural Regime of Social Security, or of the agricultural income, established by Royal Decree 426/2003, of April 11, which regulates the agricultural income for temporary workers included in the Special Agricultural Regime of Social Security residing in the Autonomous Communities of Andalusia and Extremadura, even when they do not have the minimum number of employees covered by the aforementioned Social Security System. of actual days worked contributed established, respectively, in article 2.1.c) of the first or in article 2.1.d) of the second of the royal decrees cited, provided that they have covered in said Special System a minimum of ten actual days worked contributed in the twelve calendar months immediately prior to the unemployment situation, and meet the rest of the requirements demanded in the applicable regulations, in accordance with article 288 of the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015, of October 30, and with the provisions of the aforementioned royal decrees.

2. When the provisions of section 1 of this provision are applied, a number of thirty-five actual days of contributions shall be considered accredited for the purposes of the following:

a) Article 5.1.a) of Royal Decree 5/1997, of January 10.

b) Articles 4.1 and 5.1.a) of Royal Decree 426/2003, of April 11.

3. For applications submitted within the territorial scope indicated in section 1 of this provision, the following shall apply:

a) To apply the first transitional provision of Royal Decree 5/1997, of January 10, a minimum number of ten actual days of contributions must be completed, in the manner provided for in said provision.

b) In order to apply the second transitional provision of Royal Decree 5/1997, of January 10, when a number equal to or greater than ten days of contributions is accredited, a number of thirty-five days of contributions will be considered accredited.

4. The provisions of the preceding sections shall apply to applications submitted from the date of entry into force of this Royal Decree-Law until 30 June 2025, both inclusive.

First transitional provision. Gradual application of certain provisions.

Until October 31, 2024, the provisions of articles 269, 271, 272, 274 to 280, 282, 283, 284, 286, 287 and 299 of the Revised Text of the General Social Security Law in their current wording will continue to apply, except for the amendments included in article 275.5.c), article 282.5, worded respectively, by numbers five and eleven of article two of this rule.

Second transitional provision. Adaptation of the Regulations on the organisation and internal functioning of the Economic and Social Council.

Within three months from the publication of this Royal Decree-Law, the plenary session of the Economic and Social Council must adapt its Regulations of internal organisation and operation in order to adapt it to the composition of the second group derived from article 2.3 of Law 21/1991, of June 17, in its new wording given by this Royal Decree-Law.

Within three months of the publication of the amendment to the previous Regulation, the Government will appoint, by royal decree, the members of the aforementioned Council based on the proposals of the organisations that have the right to form part of it.

Third transitional provision. Transitional regime regarding the level of unemployment protection assistance.

1. Persons who, as of November 1, 2024, had requested, were beneficiaries of, or had suspended any of the unemployment benefits existing at the time of the entry into force of this Royal Decree-Law, including the extraordinary unemployment benefit, or the active insertion income, will continue to be governed by the regulations prior to this Royal Decree-Law until the current right expires.

2. Likewise, those who prove that the date of the event causing the same is prior to November 1, 2024 may request and receive, in accordance with the regulations prior to this Royal Decree-Law until its extinction, any of the unemployment benefits existing at the time of entry into force of this Royal Decree-Law. For these purposes, the date on which the one-month waiting period is met or the legal situation of unemployment occurs will be considered as the date of the causal event.

Those who prove that they have actively searched for employment and, where applicable, have completed the one-month waiting period after the subsidy has run out, before 1 November 2024, may apply for and receive the extraordinary unemployment benefit in accordance with the regulations prior to this Royal Decree-Law until its extinction.

3. Without prejudice to the foregoing, the provisions of articles 275.5.c) and 282.5 of the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law, as amended in sections five and eleven of article two of this Royal Decree-Law, as well as section sixteen of article two of this Royal Decree-Law and the third final provision, shall apply to the persons referred to in sections one and two above from the date of their entry into force.

4. Those who, at the time of its entry into force, are in any of the access situations provided for in article 274, or in the fifty-seventh or fifty-eighth additional provisions and who could not have applied for it due to not having completed the previous month of waiting, may apply for the unemployment benefits regulated in this Royal Decree-Law.

Fourth transitional provision. Transitional regime for compatibility of unemployment benefits with paid employment.

All unemployment benefits, including the benefit for persons over fifty-two years of age, which at the time of entry into force of this regulation are subject to the compatibility regime provided for in the fifth transitional provision of Law 45/2002, of December 12, on urgent measures for the reform of the unemployment protection system and improvement of employability, will continue to be governed by the provisions of the aforementioned transitional provision and by the regulations in force on the date of recognition of the benefit, until the end of the employment relationship, or where appropriate, the termination of the benefit.

Fifth transitional provision. Procedures for recognising the right to the minimum living income benefit.

In the procedures for recognition of the right to the minimum living income benefit initiated prior to the entry into force of this Royal Decree-Law, in which no resolution has been issued or the prior administrative claim formulated in accordance with the provisions of Article 71 of Law 36/2011, of October 10, regulating social jurisdiction, has not been resolved, the modifications established in said Royal Decree-Law that have entered into force will apply, except for the modification established in the fourth final provision, section 5, which will apply in procedures initiated after its entry into force.

Sole repealing provision. Regulatory repeal.

1. All regulations of equal or lower rank that oppose the provisions of this Royal Decree-Law are hereby repealed.

2. The twenty-seventh additional provision of the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law is hereby repealed.

3. The fifth transitional provision of Law 45/2002, of December 12, on urgent measures for the reform of the unemployment protection system and improvement of employability is hereby repealed.

4. Royal Decree 1369/2006 of 24 November, regulating the active income programme for the insertion of unemployed persons with special economic needs and difficulty in finding employment, is hereby repealed.

First final provision. Amendment to Law 21/1991, of 17 June, establishing the Economic and Social Council.

Article 2.3 of Law 21/1991, of June 17, by which the Economic and Social Council is established, is worded as follows:

«3. The members of the Council representing the Second Group shall be appointed by the business organisations that have the status of most representative in accordance with the sixth additional provision of the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute Law, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015, of 23 October, in proportion to their representativeness. In any case, the business organisations that enjoy the status of most representative at the level of the autonomous community shall be represented.»

Second final provision. Amendment to the consolidated text of the Law on Infringements and Sanctions in the Social Order, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 5/2000, of 4 August.

The consolidated text of the Law on Infringements and Sanctions in the Social Order, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 5/2000, of August 4, is worded as follows:

One. Article 8.18 is worded as follows:

«18. Failure to submit, in due time and form, to the entity responsible for managing benefits, the certification referred to in section 7 of the sixteenth additional provision of Law 27/2011, of August 1, on updating, adaptation and modernisation of the Social Security system, as well as submitting information that is false or inaccurate.»

Two. Sections 3.c) and 4 of Article 24 are worded as follows:

«c) Failure to comply with the requirements of the activity agreement in the terms established in article 3 of Law 3/2023, of February 28, on Employment, except for justified cause, provided that the conduct is not classified as another minor or serious infraction in articles 24 or 25 of this law.»

«4. In the case of applicants or beneficiaries of contributory or assistance unemployment benefits, failure to provide the entity managing said benefits with the information necessary to guarantee receipt of their notifications and communications. Summons or communications made by electronic means shall be deemed valid for the purposes of notifications provided that the workers have previously expressed their consent or are required to receive them by a law.»

Three. Sections 3 and 4 of Article 25 are worded as follows:

«3. Failure to report, except for justified reasons, the reduction of benefits when situations occur that result in incompatibility, suspension or termination of the right, except for not being registered as job seekers with the competent public employment service, or when the requirements for the right to receive them are no longer met, provided that for any of these reasons the benefit has been received unduly.

4. In the case of applicants or beneficiaries of contributory or assistance unemployment benefits, or self-employed workers who are applicants or beneficiaries of benefits for cessation of activity:

a) Reject a suitable job offer, whether offered by public employment services or by employment agencies when they carry out activities within the scope of collaboration with the former, except for justified cause.

b) Refuse to participate in actions, programs or activities indicated in the itinerary or personalised plan for improving employability and access to the labor market, except for justified cause, offered by public employment services or collaborating entities.

For the purposes of this law, adequate placement shall be understood as that which meets the requirements established in article 3.g) of Law 3/2023, of February 28.

Four. Article 26.2 is worded as follows:

«2. Make the application for or receipt of unemployment benefits or subsidies, as well as the benefit for cessation of activity of self-employed workers, compatible with self-employment or employment, except in cases expressly provided for in the corresponding regulations.»

Five. Letters b) and e) of article 47.1 are worded as follows:

«b) The serious ones classified in article 25 with loss of the benefit or pension for a period of three months, except those of its number 2 in the benefits for temporary disability, in which the sanction will be extinction of the benefit.

In the case of contributory or assistance unemployment benefits, serious infringements classified in article 25.3 and 4 will be sanctioned according to the following scale:

1st Offence: Loss of 3 months of benefits.

2nd Offence: Loss of 6 months of benefits.

3rd Violation. Termination of benefits.

In the case of the benefit for cessation of activity of self-employed workers, the serious infringement described in article 25.4 b) will be sanctioned according to the following scale:

1st Offence: Loss of 1 month and 15 days of benefits.

2nd Offence: Loss of 3 months of benefits.

3rd Violation. Termination of benefits.

These scales will be applied from the first infringement and when no more than 365 days have elapsed between the commission of a serious infringement and the previous one, as established in article 41.1 of this law, regardless of the type of infringement.

«e) For these purposes, unemployed workers will be considered beneficiaries of unemployment benefits during the fifteen working day period of requesting extensions of unemployment benefits established in article 276.2 of the General Social Security Law, as well as during the precautionary or definitive suspension of unemployment benefits or subsidies as a result of a sanctioning procedure or as established in article 271.1.h) of said Law.»

Third final provision. Amendment to Law 27/2011, of 1 August, on updating, adaptation and modernisation of the Social Security system.

Section 7 of the sixteenth additional provision of Law 27/2011, of August 1, on the updating, adaptation and modernisation of the Social Security system, is worded as follows:

«7. The companies referred to in this provision must send to the State Public Employment Service a certificate signed by a person with sufficient authority, which must contain the information determined by regulation. In addition, they must send the list of affected workers, which will include, at least, the following information:

a) Name, surname and NIF of all workers affected by the collective dismissal, indicating their date of birth.

b) Name, surname and NIF of all workers with employment contracts that have been terminated in the three years immediately prior to the date of the communication of the start of the consultation period at the initiative of the company or companies belonging to the same group, for reasons not inherent to the will of the worker and other than those provided for in article 49.1. c) of the Workers’ Statute.

Both communications will be sent through the “Certific@2” service of the electronic headquarters of the State Public Employment Service, within the following time periods:

1. When the circumstances established in section 1, letters a), b) and c) occur.1.ª, three months from the end of the year following the start of the collective dismissal procedure.

2. When the circumstances established in section 1, letters a), b) and c) occur.2.ª, before the end of the fiscal year immediately following the one in which the last of the three aforementioned requirements is met.

In both cases, the State Public Employment Service will forward the certificate received to the competent labour authority in the collective dismissal procedure.

Fourth final provision. Amendment to Law 19/2021, of December 20, establishing the minimum living income.

Law 19/2021, of December 20, establishing the minimum living income, is modified as follows:

One. Article 4.1 is worded as follows:

«1. The following may benefit from the minimum living income:

a) The members of a cohabitation unit under the terms established in this law.

b) Persons aged at least twenty-three years old who do not form part of a cohabitation unit under the terms established in this law, provided that they are not linked to another person by marriage or as a de facto partner, except those who have initiated separation or divorce proceedings or those who are in other circumstances that may be determined by regulation.

The age requirement and the requirement of having initiated separation or divorce proceedings will not be required in the case of women who are victims of gender violence or human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Compliance with this requirement will also not be required for persons between 18 and 22 years of age in the following cases:

a) That they come from residential centres for the protection of minors in the different Autonomous Communities, having been under the guardianship of Public Entities for the protection of minors within the three years prior to coming of age, or are absolute orphans, provided that they live alone without being integrated into a cohabitation unit.

b) Those who come from a penitentiary center after having been released from prison, provided that the deprivation of liberty has been for a period of more than six months.

Two. Sections 1 and 2 of Article 5 shall be worded as follows:

«1. The beneficiaries of this benefit are those persons with legal capacity who request and receive it, in their own name or in the name of a cohabitation unit. In the latter case, the beneficiary will assume the representation of the aforementioned unit.

The applicant must meet the requirements to be entitled to the benefit. If the applicant is part of a cohabitation unit, the application must be signed by this person and must include a declaration of responsibility from the person regarding the consent for the submission of the application by all members of the cohabitation unit who are of legal age.

2. The holders, when integrated into a cohabitation unit, must be at least 23 years old, or be of legal age or emancipated minors in the case of having children or minors under guardianship for the purposes of adoption or permanent foster care or absolute orphans when they are the only members of the cohabitation unit and none of them reach the age of 23 years.
If they are not part of a cohabitation unit, the minimum age of the holder will be 23 years, except in the case of women victims of gender violence, victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, in which case the holder will be required to be of legal age or an emancipated minor, or in the case of persons who have been under the guardianship of Public Entities for the protection of minors within the three years prior to coming of age or who come from penitentiary centres after being released from prison, provided that the deprivation of liberty has been for a period of more than six months, in which case the holder will be required to be of legal age.

Three. Article 6.1 is worded as follows:

«Article 6. Coexistence unit.

1. A cohabitation unit is considered to be made up of all persons who reside in the same home and who are united by marriage, as a de facto couple or by a bond up to the second degree of consanguinity, affinity, adoption, and other persons with whom they live by virtue of guardianship for the purposes of adoption or permanent foster care.

A de facto couple shall be considered to be one formed with a relationship of affection similar to that of a spouse by those who, not being impeded from entering into marriage, do not have a marital bond, nor are they in a de facto partnership with another person and prove this in accordance with the provisions of the fifth paragraph of article 21.4.

The death of any of the persons who constitute the cohabitation unit shall not alter the consideration of such, even if said death entails the loss, among the survivors, of the ties provided for in the preceding paragraphs.

When, in application of the corresponding technical instructions to the Town Councils on the management of the Municipal Register, people are registered in collective establishments, or because they are homeless and habitually reside in a municipality, they are registered at a fictitious address, the provisions of article 8 will apply.

Four. Article 10.2 is worded as follows:

«2. Beneficiaries referred to in Article 4.1.b) who are under 30 years of age on the date of the application for the minimum vital income must prove that they have lived independently in Spain for at least the two years immediately prior to the indicated date. This requirement will not be required for persons between 18 and 22 years of age who come from residential centres for the protection of minors in the different Autonomous Communities.

For the purposes of the preceding paragraph, a person shall be deemed to have lived independently provided that he or she can prove that his or her address has been different from that of his or her parents, guardians or foster parents for the two years immediately preceding the application, and during said period he or she has remained for at least twelve months, continuous or not, registered in any of the schemes that make up the Social Security system, including the State Passive Classes scheme, or in a social welfare mutual fund alternative to the Special Social Security Scheme for Self-Employed Workers.

Beneficiaries referred to in Article 4.1.b), who are over 30 years of age on the date of application, must prove that, during the year immediately preceding said date, their domicile in Spain has been different from that of their parents, guardians or foster parents.

The requirements set out in the preceding paragraphs shall not be required when the cessation of cohabitation with the parents, guardians or foster parents was due to their death. They shall also not be required for persons who, as victims of gender violence, have left their habitual residence, homeless persons, persons who have initiated separation or divorce proceedings, persons who are victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation and persons who come from penitentiary centres after having been released from prison, provided that the deprivation of liberty has been for a period of more than six months or those who are in other circumstances that may be determined by regulation.

Five. Article 20.1.f) is worded as follows:

«f) The following shall be exempt from the calculation of income:

1. Exempt income referred to in paragraphs b), c), d), i), j), n), q), r), s), t), x) and e) of article 7 of Law 35/2006, of November 28, on Personal Income Tax and partial amendment of the laws on Corporate Tax, Non-Resident Income Tax and Wealth Tax.

2. Study grants and housing grants, both for rent and purchase.

3. The compensatory pension that must be paid in accordance with the provisions of article 97 of the Civil Code, provided that payment has been made, is considered exempt income for the person obliged to pay it.

4. Child support that must be paid in accordance with the provisions of Article 93 of the Civil Code is considered exempt income for the person obliged to pay it, provided that it has been paid.

Likewise, in the cohabitation unit that must receive the alimony, it will be exempt income when the payment has not been made by the person obliged to make the payment.

5. Non-contributory unemployment benefit, when it has expired on the date of application for the benefit.

Six. Article 21.4 is worded as follows:

«Article 21. Accreditation of requirements.

4. The existence of the cohabitation unit shall be accredited by the family book, a certificate from the civil registry, and by the data contained in the municipal registers relating to those registered in the same dwelling. For these purposes, the National Social Security Institute shall have access to the database of coordination of the municipal registers of the National Statistics Institute to confirm the required conditions.

However, when it cannot be deduced from this that there is a match with the data that have been entered in the application for the benefit, the corresponding certificate of registration, historical and collective, for the period required in each case, referring to the addresses where the members of the cohabitation unit reside or have resided, issued by the City Council pursuant to the provisions of article 83.3 of the Population and Territorial Demarcation Regulations of Local Entities, will be requested.

Both the data obtained from the National Statistics Institute and, where applicable, the aforementioned registration certificate, will also serve to prove the existence of the cohabitation unit referred to in article 6 or that the applicant referred to in article 4.1.b) lives alone or shares a home with a cohabitation unit of which he or she is not a part.

For the purposes of data relating to the Municipal Register in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraphs, the consent of the persons registered at the applicant’s address will not be required.

The existence of a de facto couple will be accredited by means of a certificate of registration in one of the specific registers existing in the autonomous communities or town halls of the place of residence, where applicable, or a public document stating the constitution of said couple. Both the aforementioned registration and the formalisation of the corresponding public document must have occurred at least two years in advance of the date of the application for the benefit, this period not being required in the case of children in common. The requirement of registration in a Registry of de facto couples, or constitution of said couple in a public document, will not be required in the case of children in common.

The start of separation or divorce proceedings, or their existence, will be proven by filing the claim or by the corresponding court ruling, or by means of a public document.

Not being linked to another person by marriage or common-law partnership shall be accredited by a sworn declaration or solemn affirmation by the subject himself/herself, which shall be included in the application for the benefit, the standardised form of which shall include a warning about the criminal liability that may be incurred in the event of falsehood. Such a sworn declaration or solemn affirmation shall not prevent the managing entity from requiring additional accreditation in the event of well-founded doubt.»

Seven. Article 41 is worded as follows:

«Article 41. Control of the provision.

The control modality exercised over the recognition of the right and obligation to the non-contributory minimum income benefit will be the intervention function and permanent financial control in accordance with the provisions of 147.1 of Law 47/2003, of November 26, General Budget.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, for the cases contemplated in article 32.2 and the twelfth additional provision, the control method will be exclusively permanent financial control.

In any case, the acts of management and material payment will be intervened in accordance with the provisions of section 5, chapter IV, title II of Royal Decree 706/1997, of May 16, which develops the internal control regime exercised by the General Intervention of Social Security.

Eight. A new twelfth additional provision is added, in the following terms:

«Additional provision twelfth. Transition from unemployment benefit to minimum vital income benefit.

1. For the purposes of applying for the minimum living income, in order to eliminate the administrative burdens on those persons who exhaust the maximum period of receipt of unemployment benefits without having reentered the labour market, in the cases provided for in the following paragraphs and with the prior consent of the interested parties, the entity managing the unemployment benefit will send the data indicated in this provision to the entity managing the minimum living income, so that the latter may recognise, where appropriate, the benefit of the minimum living income.

In order for the entity managing the subsidy to proceed with the transmission of the data that allow, where appropriate, the recognition of the minimum vital income, it will be necessary that on the expected date of exhaustion of the subsidy the beneficiary is over 23 years of age; that he or she does not live with any other person if he or she is a beneficiary of the subsidy without family responsibilities or that he or she lives in the same home with those people who make up his or her family unit for the purposes of said subsidy; and that there is no other person, other than the above, registered at said address.

During the quarter prior to the exhaustion of the unemployment benefit, the entity managing the same will inform the beneficiary about the possibility of sending their data and those of the members of their family unit included in the following section, to the entity managing the minimum vital income, so that said benefit can be processed by the latter, for which they must give their consent and, where appropriate, sign a responsible declaration stating that they have the consent of the members of their family unit who are of legal age who were taken into account for the purposes of recognising and maintaining the unemployment benefit, on the absence of third parties residing at the same address, as well as that they are not linked to another person by marriage or as a de facto partner in the case of being an individual beneficiary, and on those details that appear in the standardised model of responsible declaration established for this purpose by the entity managing the minimum vital income. The standard model will include, among other things, those situations in which the interested party declares not to be involved or, if they are, will not be taken into account for the purposes of recognising and calculating the benefit.

2. The entity managing the unemployment benefit will verify the existence of consent and the correct completion of the declaration of responsibility by the interested party, and within ten days following the date on which the unemployment benefit is exhausted, it will send to the entity managing the minimum vital income benefit, the information necessary for the processing of this benefit, which will include the identification data of the interested party, as well as, where applicable, those of the other members of his or her family unit, by means of the national identity document number in the case of Spanish citizens, including those under 14 years of age, and by means of the foreign identity number in the case of foreign citizens, as well as any other matters agreed upon by the entity managing the unemployment benefits and the entity managing the minimum vital income; the date on which the subsidy was exhausted; the gross amounts accrued in the immediately preceding financial year in the form of unemployment assistance subsidy and the current account number into which it was being paid.

If the entity managing the unemployment benefit verifies that the declaration of responsibility has not been correctly completed, within the period of 10 days indicated in the first paragraph it will inform the interested party that, for this reason, it is not possible to send it to the entity managing the minimum vital income, informing him in any case that he can request said benefit from the aforementioned managing entity, as well as the existing channels for this purpose.

3. Once the above has been received, the entity managing the minimum vital income will verify, through access to the database for the coordination of the municipal registers of the National Statistics Institute, the absence of third parties registered at the same address as the person receiving the unemployment benefit or, where appropriate, the family unit.

If the above-mentioned provisions are not met, the entity managing the minimum vital income will inform the interested party that, for this reason, it is not appropriate to continue with the procedures provided for in this provision, informing him/her, in turn, of the possibility of requesting said benefit in accordance with the provisions of this Law; as well as of the channels existing for this purpose.

4. If the requirements set out in the first paragraph of the previous section are met, the managing entity will verify the economic vulnerability requirement established in article 10.1.b), in accordance with the information provided electronically by the State Agency for Tax Administration and by the Tax Authorities of Navarre and the historical territories of the Basque Country, taking as a reference the information recorded in these Public Authorities with respect to the year prior to the one in which the unemployment benefit was exhausted, or failing that, the most up-to-date information recorded in these public administrations.

If this requirement is not met, a resolution of inadmissibility will be issued against which a prior administrative claim may be filed in relation to Social Security benefits, in accordance with the provisions of article 71 of Law 36/2011, of October 10, regulating social jurisdiction, and whose purpose will be limited to knowing about the cause of inadmissibility.

If the requirement of economic vulnerability is accredited, the managing entity will proceed to verify that the requirement of legal and effective residence in Spain contemplated in article 10.1.a), the requirement of independent living referred to in article 10.2, as well as the requirement relating to the valid constitution of the cohabitation unit for at least six months in article 10.3, are met.

The submission of data provided for in section 2 shall be sufficient to prove the links between the persons to whom said data refer, as well as those aspects on which the responsible declaration is based, without the managing entity of said benefit having to proceed to verify it for the purposes of recognising the minimum vital income benefit.
T

he managing body will issue a resolution and notify it within a maximum period of six months from the exhaustion of the right to unemployment benefit. If this period has elapsed without any express resolution being notified, it will be deemed to have been rejected.

5. In the event of recognition of the right to the minimum living income, the date of the event causing the benefit will be the date of exhaustion of the subsidy.

The economic effects will occur on the first day of the month following the date of the event causing the tax.

The person entitled to the minimum vital income will, in any case, be the beneficiary of the unemployment benefit that has expired and it will be paid into the same bank account into which the aforementioned benefit was paid.

6. Communications and data exchange between the managing entity of the unemployment benefit and the managing entity of the minimum vital income will be carried out through the appropriate information exchange system that will include the enabling of a telematic system at the service of the latter managing entity that allows the consultation of the data and documents signed by the interested parties, as well as those in the possession of the managing entity of the unemployment benefit, which are necessary for the verification of the accreditation of the requirements established in this Law for access to and maintenance of the economic benefit of the minimum vital income.

Fifth final provision. Amendment to Royal Decree-Law 16/2022, of 6 September, to improve the working and social security conditions of domestic workers.

Royal Decree-Law 16/2022, of September 6, to improve the working and social security conditions of domestic workers, is amended as follows:

One. The third transitional provision is worded as follows:

«Third transitional provision. Maintenance of benefits for hiring caregivers in large families.

The bonuses for hiring caregivers in large families that were being applied on April 1, 2024, under the terms provided for in article 9 of Law 40/2003, of November 18, on the protection of large families, as well as the bonuses to which one is entitled for contracts entered into from that date under the provisions of the third additional provision bis of Royal Decree-Law 1/2023, of January 10, on urgent measures regarding incentives for the hiring of employees and improvement of the social protection of artists, will remain in force until the effective date of the termination of the caregivers that entitle them to them in the General Social Security Regime.

Such bonuses shall be incompatible with the reduction in the contribution established in the first paragraph of section 1 of the first additional provision of this Royal Decree-Law, as well as with the bonuses established in section 2 of said additional provision.

Two. Final provision seven.4 is worded as follows:

«4. The provisions of paragraphs 2 and 3 and the second paragraph of paragraph 4 of the first additional provision will take effect when the regulatory development provided for in the aforementioned provisions comes into force.»

Final provision six. Amendment to Royal Decree-Law 1/2023, of January 10, on urgent measures regarding incentives for employment contracts and improving the social protection of artists.

Royal Decree-Law 1/2023, of January 10, on urgent measures regarding incentives for employment contracts and improving the social protection of artists, is amended as follows:

One. Article 31 is worded as follows:

«Article 31. Bonuses for persons hired in certain sectors of activity and geographical areas.

1. Companies, excluding public administration and entities, agencies and companies of the public sector, dedicated to activities within the sectors of agriculture, fishing and aquaculture; industry, except energy and water; commerce; tourism; hospitality and other services, except fixed-wing air transport, building construction, financial and insurance activities and real estate activities, as well as in other sectors or areas of activity that are legally determined, in the cities of Ceuta and Melilla, with contribution accounts assigned to said companies in which they have workers with permanent contracts or as replacements due to temporary disability who are active in the aforementioned cities, will be entitled to a 50 percent bonus on their contributions to Social Security contributions for common contingencies, as well as for the concepts of joint collection of unemployment, vocational training and the Salary Guarantee Fund, during the validity of the contracts.

2. The above bonus will apply while the Comprehensive Socioeconomic Development Plans of the Cities of Ceuta and Melilla are in force. For the purposes of applying these bonuses, the State Public Employment Service, in accordance with the provisions of articles 36 and 37, will notify the General Treasury of Social Security of the end of the validity of said Plans when it takes effect.

Two. Additional provision three.1 is worded as follows:

«1. The hiring of persons in the family environment will entitle the person to the contribution bonuses established in the first additional provision of Royal Decree-Law 16/2022, of September 6, for the improvement of the working and Social Security conditions of domestic workers, without prejudice to the provisions of its third transitional provision and the third additional provision bis of this Royal Decree-Law on maintaining the benefits applicable for the hiring of caregivers in large families.

However, the bonus regulated in section 2 of the aforementioned first additional provision of Royal Decree-Law 16/2022, of September 6, as an alternative to the 20 percent reduction in the business contribution to the Social Security contribution for common contingencies corresponding to the Special System for Household Employees, will be effectively applied when the regulatory development provided for said bonus in the first paragraph of sections 2 and 3 of the aforementioned first additional provision occurs.

Three. Additional provision three bis is added, with the following wording:

«Additional provision three bis. Bonus on Social Security contributions for hiring caregivers in large families.

1. With effect from 1 April 2024, and until the regulatory development provided for in sections 2 and 3 of the first additional provision of Royal Decree-Law 16/2022, of 6 September, for the improvement of the working and Social Security conditions of domestic workers, takes place, the hiring of caregivers in large families will entitle the employer to a 45 percent bonus on the Social Security contributions to be paid by the employer under the conditions set out in the following sections, provided that the person responsible for paying the Social Security contributions is registered, or in a situation similar to registered, with an obligation to pay Social Security contributions and has been recognised as a large family at the time of hiring the domestic employee. When the employer is a civil or military public servant not included in the General Social Security Regime, his or her inclusion in the corresponding special regime for civil or military public servants may be verified through the information available at the National Social Security Institute regarding the right to health care.

In any case, the benefit indicated in the first paragraph of this provision will only be applicable for the hiring of a single caregiver for each subject responsible for the payment of contributions who has officially recognised the status of large family.

2. For the purposes of the right to the bonus on the employer’s contribution to the Special System for Household Employees of the General Regime for the hiring of caregivers in large families, established in the previous section, caregivers will be considered to be natural persons in the service of the family home in which the object of their special employment relationship consists of services or activities provided in the home of large families who have officially recognised such status under said law, and which consist exclusively of the care or attention of the members of said large family or of those who live in the same home, this last point being able to be verified through the corresponding inspection activity.

3. The bonus will expire when the employer no longer has official recognition of the status of large family. In this case, the bonus will expire with effect from the first day of the month following the month in which the status of large family ceases to be met. The bonus may be automatically discontinued, with the indicated effects, when information is available on the termination of the status of large family.

In the event of expiry of the official large family title and subsequent renewal thereof, the bonus will be applied from the effective date of the renewed large family title, after notification of such circumstance by the person responsible for paying Social Security contributions or, where appropriate, by the entities responsible for the management of said titles.

4. These contribution bonuses will be subject to the provisions of letters c), except for the provisions of the third paragraph and letter d) of article 8, and in articles 36, 37, 38 and 39 of this royal decree-law, with respect to those aspects that are applicable to the simplified liquidation system referred to in article 22 of the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law.

Four. Sections 1.c) and 2 of the eleventh additional provision are worded as follows:

«c) The reductions provided for in the forty-seventh additional provision of the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law will be applied last, with respect to the contributions that are to be paid once all the reductions or bonuses have been applied in accordance with the provisions of the previous paragraph.

In any case, regardless of the compatibility with other deductions in the contribution, in the event that the workers to whom these reductions in contributions apply are registered, in the corresponding settlement period, in more than one contribution account code of the company in question, the reduction in contributions may only be applied with respect to one of the contribution account codes, according to the choice made by the employer prior to the request for the settlement of contributions, in the terms established in the aforementioned forty-seventh additional provision.

These fee reductions may not be applied in the supplementary fee settlements.

The information provided by the management entities of the employment pension funds in accordance with the provisions of article 71 of the LGSS may give rise to the revision of the amount of the reduction applied in the settlement of contributions when it is lower than the amount applied to the calculation of said reductions according to the data provided by the employers in accordance with the provisions of the forty-seventh additional provision of the LGSS.

The review, where appropriate, of the amount of the contribution bases declared by employers, in relation to the application of contributions to pension plans, in their employment system modality, corresponds exclusively to the inspection power of the Labour and Social Security Inspection in matters of contribution and collection of contributions of the Social Security System.

«2. The provisions of Articles 8 shall apply to quota reductions, with the exception of the provisions of letter e), 36, 37.2, 38.3, 38.4 and 39.»

Five. The sixth transitional provision is added, which is worded as follows:

«Sixth transitional provision. Bonus on Social Security contributions for hiring caregivers in large families in force.

The provisions of sections 2, 3 and 4 of the same shall apply to the bonuses on Social Security contributions for the hiring of carers in large families that were being applied prior to the date of entry into force of the third additional provision bis.

Final provision seven. Amendment to Royal Decree 625/1985, of April 2, implementing Law 31/1984, of August 2, on Unemployment Protection.

Royal Decree 625/1985, of April 2, which implements Law 31/1984, of August 2, on Unemployment Protection, is amended as follows:

One. Section 3a is added to Article 33, worded as follows:

«3.bis. In application of the principles of economy and administrative efficiency, the repayment procedure provided for in this article may not be initiated when the amount of a debt is less than the amount determined by the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy as insufficient to cover the cost of its levy and collection, and if such circumstance arises after its initiation, the procedure shall be terminated under the terms and conditions established by the Ministry, with the effects provided for in article 116.2 of the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law.»

Two. Article 33 bis is added, which is worded as follows:

«Article 33 bis. Partial payment of debts arising from undue receipt of unemployment benefits.

1. The managing entity may grant instalment payments for unemployment protection debts, at the request of the persons responsible for payment, when the economic-financial situation and other concurrent circumstances, at the discretion of the competent body to resolve, prevent them from making the payment of their debts. If the application for instalment payments is submitted after the thirty-day period has elapsed, the surcharge for late payment provided for in article 30 of the consolidated text of the General Law on Social Security will be applied to the principal.

2. The total duration of the fractionation may not exceed five years.
However, when there are duly accredited extraordinary causes, another longer period may be granted, and the corresponding resolution will be issued.

3. The granting of the fractionation, provided that the conditions established in this article and in the resolution granting it are met, will give rise, in relation to the fractioned debt, to the suspension of the collection procedure.

4. The granting of instalment payments will give rise to the accrual of interest, which will be payable from the date of granting until the date of payment, in accordance with the late payment interest rate in force at any given time during the duration of the instalment payment.
The corresponding interest will be applicable to the principal of the debt and, where applicable, to the corresponding surcharge.

5. The application for payment by installments shall necessarily contain the precise data for the identification of the debtor and the debt, stating the reasons for the debt, the period and due dates requested and the place or means chosen for notification purposes. It shall also contain, where applicable, the offer of guarantees by the holder of the rights that will ensure compliance, with justification of their sufficiency.

6. The State Public Employment Service may request from the applicant any documentation it deems necessary to prove the economic-financial situation and other circumstances that have been alleged in the application and, in general, any reports and actions it deems appropriate to adopt the resolution.

7. If the application for fractionation does not meet the required requirements or the required documents are not provided with it, or defects or omissions are noted in it, the applicant will be required to correct the defect or submit the required documents within ten days, with the indication that otherwise a resolution will be issued considering that he has withdrawn his application.

8. Compliance with the instalment payment must be ensured by sufficient collateral to cover the principal amount of the debt and surcharges for debts exceeding 150,000 euros.

9. The resolution on the application for payment by instalments must be issued within a maximum period of three months, counting from the date of entry in the register of the competent body for processing it. After this period has elapsed without an express resolution being issued, the application may be deemed to have been rejected. This resolution must indicate the total amount and the period of the deferred debt, the duration and due dates of the payment by instalments, as well as the deadlines for the constitution of the guarantees and compliance with the other conditions established, which, depending on the concurrent circumstances, may differ from those requested.

10. In the event of denial of the application, the resolution will give a new deadline of fifteen working days from the notification of the resolution.

11. The application for fractionation will be denied if any of the following circumstances occur:

a) That the applicant has repeatedly failed to comply with previously granted instalment agreements.

b) That, at the time of the request, the enforcement order had been issued.

12. In the event of non-compliance with any of the conditions or payments of the instalment, the provisions of article 84 and following of the General Regulations on Social Security Collection, approved by Royal Decree 1415/2004, of June 11, shall apply without further procedure.

Three. Article 34 is worded as follows:

«Article 34. Compensation for unemployment benefits.

1. The managing entity will make the corresponding compensations or discounts of the amounts unduly received by the workers in the unemployment benefits that are within its jurisdiction.

2. For the purposes of applying the provisions of the previous section, when the applicant for unemployment benefits has outstanding debts with the managing entity, the offset of the debt will be initiated against the new right until the beneficiary has repaid the outstanding amounts or is granted payment in instalments for the debt.

When the reimbursement procedure regulated in article 33 bis has been initiated and, before a resolution is issued, the interested party requests a new benefit, and provided that the amount of the first payment of the benefit derived from the recognition of the new right is greater than that of the debt, the amount owed may be offset and the difference received in his/her favour if the beneficiary agrees.

3. In those cases in which the managing entity reviews the duration or amount of unemployment benefits, or the periods of receipt, for any reason, the reimbursement procedure will only be initiated for the excess amount resulting from the adjustment between the amounts actually received and those that should have been received.

Four. Article 34a is added, which is worded as follows:

«Article 34 bis. Partial compensation of unemployment benefits.

1. Without prejudice to the provisions of article 34.2, the managing entity may grant, at the request of the worker, partial monthly compensation of his debt from the newly recognized right, when the economic-financial situation and other concurrent circumstances, at the discretion of the competent body to resolve, so advise.

2. As a general rule, the amount to be compensated monthly will be equivalent to the quotient resulting from dividing the total amount of the debt by the number of months of duration of the recognized right.

In the event that, prior to the date of exhaustion of the recognized right and with which the debt is being offset, any cause for suspension of the same occurs, the worker will have a period of fifteen working days to cancel the outstanding debt, or, where appropriate, request its fractionation.

After this period has elapsed, without the debt being repaid or its instalment being requested, the provisions of article 84 et seq. of the General Regulations on Social Security Collection, approved by Royal Decree 1415/2004, of June 11, will apply.

3. The processing rules provided for in article 33 bis. 5, 6, and 7 of this royal decree apply to the application for partial compensation.

4. In general, partial compensation will be denied when the requirement of lack of income or, where applicable, lack of family responsibilities is not proven in accordance with the provisions of article 275.1 and 2 of the General Social Security Law.
It will be denied, in any case, when the General Treasury of Social Security has issued the enforcement order.

5. In cases where the worker who opposes the full compensation of his debt does not request, based on his economic and personal circumstances, the partial compensation of the same, provided for in the previous sections, the provisions of article 84 and following of the General Regulations for Social Security Collection, approved by Royal Decree 1415/2004, of June 11, will apply.

However, if the worker proves that the total amount of income of any kind, both his own and, where applicable, that of the other members of the family unit, including the gross amount of the unemployment benefit to which he is entitled, is less than the monthly amount of the non-contributory retirement and disability pensions, he may propose to the managing entity the compensation and future payment plan that he deems viable, which may extend the maximum period of five years for as long as necessary for its cancellation.

6. Temporary disability benefits paid by the managing entity in accordance with the provisions of article 283.2 of the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law are excluded from the partial compensation procedure.

Section 4 drafted in accordance with the correction of errors published in BOE No. 139, of June 8, 2024. Ref. BOE-A-2024-11614

Eighth final provision. Amendment to Royal Decree 1044/1985, of 19 June, regulating the payment of unemployment benefits in the form of a single payment at the current value of the amount, as a measure to promote employment.

Section 3 is added to article 7 of Royal Decree 1044/1985, of June 19, regulating the payment of unemployment benefits in the form of a single payment for the current value of its amount, as a measure to promote employment, which is worded as follows:

«3. It will be proven that the amounts received have been duly allocated to the investment project to be carried out or to the incorporation as partners in worker cooperatives or labor societies by presenting the corresponding documentation that justifies the operations carried out and amounts paid, together with the justification of the effective transfer of capital that shows the reality of each of the previous operations.»

Final provision nine. Amendment to Royal Decree 426/2003, of April 11, regulating agricultural income for temporary workers in the Special Agricultural Regime of Social Security residing in the Autonomous Communities of Andalusia and Extremadura.

An additional sixth provision is added to Royal Decree 426/2003, of April 11, regulating agricultural income for temporary workers in the Special Agricultural Regime of Social Security residing in the Autonomous Communities of Andalusia and Extremadura, with the following wording:

«Sixth additional provision. Special calculation of contributions.

In order to complete the number of thirty-five actual days of contributions established in paragraph d) of section 1 of article 2 of this royal decree, in the case of workers over thirty-five years of age, or under that age if they have family responsibilities, the contributions made to the General Social Security Regime during the twelve months immediately preceding the unemployment situation on the occasion of work performed in works affected by the agreement for agricultural employment and social protection may be computed, provided that at least twenty actual days have been contributed to the Special System for Self-Employed Agricultural Workers, if the worker has been a recipient of agricultural income in the immediately preceding year, or provided that at least thirty actual days have been contributed to the Special System for Self-Employed Agricultural Workers, if the worker has not been a recipient of agricultural income in the immediately preceding year.

Final provision ten. Safeguarding the rank of regulatory provisions.

All regulatory provisions modified in this Royal Decree-Law shall retain their royal decree rank and may be modified by a regulation of the same rank.

Final provision eleven. Competent titles.

This Royal Decree-Law is issued under the jurisdictional titles set out in Article 149.1.7.ª, 13.ª, 17.ª and 18.ª of the Spanish Constitution, which grants the State exclusive jurisdiction over matters of labour legislation, without prejudice to its execution by the bodies of the autonomous communities; in matters of bases and coordination of the general planning of economic activity, in matters of basic legislation and the economic regime of Social Security, without prejudice to the execution of its services by the autonomous communities, and in matters of bases of the statutory regime of public servants.

Final provision twelfth. Incorporation of Community law.

By means of section One of the first article and section Three, the transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on the reconciliation of family life and working life for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU is completed.

Thirteenth final provision. Development powers.

The Government shall issue the necessary provisions for the development and execution of the provisions of this Royal Decree-Law.

Fourteenth final provision. Entry into force.

1. This regulation will enter into force on the day following its publication in the “Official State Gazette”.

2. The following shall enter into force on 1 November 2024: paragraphs eighteen to twenty-three, both inclusive, of article two, relating to the new additional provisions fifty-fourth to fifty-ninth, as well as paragraph twenty-four of article two, relating to the new transitional provision forty-fourth of the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law; paragraphs two and four of the repealing provision; the second final provision, except for its paragraph four, which shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official State Gazette; the third final provision; and paragraph one of the sixth final provision.

3. The fourth final provision, except for its sections five and eight, which will enter into force six months after said publication, will enter into force on the first day of the month following its publication in the Official State Gazette.

Given in Madrid, on May 21, 2024.

FELIPE R.
The president of the Government,
Pedro Sanchez Perez-Castejon

Related information
Royal Decree-Law 2/2024, of May 21, has been validated by Agreement of the Congress of Deputies, published by Resolution of June 20, 2024. Ref. BOE-A-2024-12945