Spanish Social Security: Obligations and Benefits
The Spanish Social Security System
The Spanish state guarantees a public social security scheme for all citizens, designed to protect against various contingencies. Its purpose is to provide benefits that offset the consequences arising from different situations.
Types of Contingencies Covered
- Common Contingencies: Common illness and non-work-related injury.
- Professional Contingencies: Occupational illness and work-related injury.
Social Security Schemes
Contributory Scheme
The contributory scheme extends to all Spanish citizens and foreigners legally residing and working in Spain. This includes employees, self-employed individuals, students, and civil or military public officials carrying out activities within the national territory.
Eligibility for benefits under this scheme requires prior contributions to Social Security for a specific minimum duration, known as the waiting period.
Workers covered by the contributory scheme fall under either the General Regime or one of the Special Regimes.
Non-Contributory Scheme
The non-contributory scheme covers Spanish residents within the national territory who lack sufficient economic resources and have either never contributed or whose contributions were inadequate.
Benefits under this scheme include financial aid and healthcare services.
Obligation to Contribute
Both the worker and the employer are obligated to contribute to the Social Security system.
According to the General Social Security Law (LGSS), the employer is responsible for fulfilling this obligation by paying both their own contributions and withholding and paying the worker’s contributions in full.
Worker Obligations
Under the contributory scheme, every working individual is obliged to pay contributions. This obligation begins when the work activity starts and ends upon cessation of work, lasting for the entire duration of the employment or self-employment activity.
Workers must also notify their employer of any changes to their personal data relevant to Social Security.
Employer Obligations
Employers have several key obligations:
- Register the company: Register with the General Treasury of the Social Security (Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social – TGSS) before hiring workers. The TGSS assigns a unique contribution account code (Código de Cuenta de Cotización – CCC).
- Affiliate workers: Ensure all workers covered by the Social Security system are affiliated. This must be done before the worker starts their service if they are not already affiliated.
- Manage worker registrations: Process registrations (altas), deregistrations (bajas), and any data variations for employees with the TGSS.
- Pay contributions: Calculate and pay both employer and employee contributions using the official contribution documents.
Self-Employed (Autónomo) Obligations
Self-employed individuals have the following primary obligations:
- Register in the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (Régimen Especial de Trabajadores Autónomos – RETA).
- Communicate their registration, deregistration, or any data variations to the Social Security authorities.
- Pay their contributions.
Contribution Base: A key difference for the self-employed is that their contributions are typically calculated based on a contribution base chosen by them, within legally established minimum and maximum limits.
When hiring employees: If a self-employed person hires workers, they must also fulfill standard employer obligations, including company registration with the TGSS and managing employee registrations, deregistrations, and data variations.
Key Social Security Benefits
Healthcare Assistance
This benefit grants the right to receive medical and pharmaceutical services, as well as rehabilitation, prosthetics, and orthotics.
Temporary Incapacity (Incapacidad Temporal – IT)
This benefit applies when a worker is temporarily unable to work due to a common or occupational illness or accident (work-related or not) and requires healthcare assistance.
Requirements for IT Benefit:
- Be affiliated and registered (alta) with Social Security.
- For common illness, have a minimum contribution period (grace period) of 180 days within the five years immediately preceding the date of leave. (Note: No grace period is required for accidents, whether work-related or not, or for occupational illness).
Notification Procedures:
- Worker: Must deliver the medical leave certificate (parte de baja) to the company within a maximum of three days from its issuance. The medical discharge certificate (parte de alta) must be delivered within 24 hours.
- Employer: Must transmit the information from the medical certificates to the managing entity (e.g., INSS or Mutual Society) within a maximum period of 5 days.
Permanent Disability (Incapacidad Permanente – IP)
This situation occurs when a worker, after undergoing required medical treatment and being medically discharged, presents serious, presumably definitive anatomical or functional impairments that reduce or eliminate their capacity to work.
Grades of Permanent Disability:
- Partial Permanent Disability (IPP – Incapacidad Permanente Parcial para la profesión habitual): Causes a reduction of at least 33% in the normal performance for the worker’s usual profession, but does not prevent them from carrying it out.
- Total Permanent Disability (IPT – Incapacidad Permanente Total para la profesión habitual): Disables the worker from performing all or the fundamental tasks of their usual profession, but allows them to engage in a different one.
- Absolute Permanent Disability (IPA – Incapacidad Permanente Absoluta para todo trabajo): Disables the worker completely for any profession or trade.
- Severe Disability (GI – Gran Invalidez): Occurs when the worker with Absolute Permanent Disability also requires assistance from another person for the most essential daily activities (e.g., eating, dressing).