Costs and Funding of the Training Activity in Spain

The time spent for training activity may not be less than 25% during the first year of activity, or 15% during the second and third year, of the maximum workday hours prescribed in the collective agreement, or in its absence, the maximum legal working hours. The annual workday hours, not including vacation days, will serve as a reference to calculate the time dedicated to the training activity. When the parties agree to concentrate the training activity during fixed periods of the contract’s enforcement, they must expressly state so in the training activity agreement.

Training Costs and Maximum Funding

The calculated costs of vocational training and apprenticeship contracts eligible for reductions will follow these economic modules:

• Classroom: The cost per hour/participant shall be 8 Euros.
• Distant learning: The cost per hour/participant shall be 5 Euros.

These economic modules may be updated by Resolution by the head of the Directorate General of the SPEE.

The maximum amount of reductions that a company may apply for in funding the costs of training previously mentioned shall be the result of multiplying the corresponding economic module by the number of hours equivalent to 25% of the workday hours during the first year of the contract and 15% of the workday hours of the second and third year.

Reductions and Fulfillment Requirements for Companies

Companies qualify for reductions of contributions to the Social Security System if they meet the following requirements:

• The training activity agreement requires signatures, and the worker’s legal representative must learn of the agreement
• The company must apply for and receive authorization for the training activity to begin
• The worker must receive an assignment to a position related to the training activity that is compatible with the time spent on the training activity. The competent SPEE will review the relationship between the position and the training activity before authorizing the start of the training activity
• An instructor with the appropriate professional qualifications and experience to teach in the company environment must receive an appointment (according to the fourth additional provision of the Order, the competent public authorities will develop programs, guides, and other specific actions for the preparation and training of both company and training centre instructors that provide training for vocational training and apprenticeship contracts in development of the functions outlined in Article 20 of the Real Decree 15289 of November 8, 2012)
• Companies must store the supporting records regarding the cost and payment of the training.

The monthly contribution bulletins must note the reductions and maintain the proportion of the maximum eligible hours of training performed equivalent to 25% of the working hours applied in each month during the first year of the contract and 15% of the working hours during the second and third year.

If the training activity occurs during a fixed period of the contract’s enforcement, the reduction and the proportion indicated will apply monthly until the company reaches the maximum amount of funding to which it is entitled.

If a company takes reductions improperly or fraudulently, the amounts corresponding to the contributions not entered will be subject to administrative claim through liquidation by the Spanish Labour and Social Security Inspectorate. The amounts will include late payment interest calculated from the date the company made the incorrect or inappropriate reductions.

Payments to Centers and Accounting Procedures

When an accredited or authorized private training centre provides the training, payments of the costs must occur in the following manner:

• The company will pay the centre the monthly cost of training and apply the corresponding reductions in contributions to the Social Security System. This payment must occur within the month following the statutory deadline for contributions to the Social Security System, corresponding with each month until the end of the initial contract or its extensions.
• The payments must appear in an invoice, which the training centre will issue to the company every month. The record of the payments must include the name of the centre, the participant’s data, the training provided, the number of hours of training provided in the corresponding month, the date of the invoice, and the legal representative of the centre. Through the Electronic Registrar, the training centre shall periodically communicate to the SPEE the specified information above as the costs of the training activity incur or at the end of each financial year (within one month after the financial year’s end).

For more information on training activities in Spain,