Changes to Social Security contributions for interns from January 1, 2024

All interns will pay Social Security contributions from January 1, 2024. This covers university and vocational training (formación profesional, FP) students undertaking training internships or third-party academic internships (whether paid or unpaid) included in training programs.

Until now, only students on paid internships paid Social Security contributions for common contingencies (contingencias comunes) and occupational contingencies (contingencias profesionales). With this change, all of them will contribute.

This measure has been introduced to require internship periods to be counted in the individual’s employment record (vida laboral) for retirement purposes.

Which internships will be subject to contributions?

• Those undertaken by university students pursuing bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, doctorates, university-specific qualifications (títulos propios), or specialization or expert diplomas.

• Those undertaken by vocational training students, provided that they are not carried out under the intensive vocational training regime (formación profesional intensiva).

From January 1, 2024, these trainees will begin to pay contributions, thereby improving the position of all interns.

Companies that host interns, including internships undertaken by university and vocational training students, will have to register them with Social Security.

All interns must therefore be registered, regardless of whether or not they are paid. Excluded are those undertaking internships on board vessels that fall under the Special Social Security Scheme for Seafarers (Régimen Especial del Mar).

What coverage is granted to “interns”?

The protective coverage will be that of the applicable Social Security scheme (the General Scheme—Régimen General—or the Special Scheme for Seafarers), excluding unemployment protection and coverage by the Wage Guarantee Fund (Fondo de Garantía Salarial, FOGASA) and for vocational training.

In the case of unpaid internships, protection in the form of temporary incapacity (incapacidad temporal) benefits arising from common contingencies will also be excluded.

Cash benefits for birth and childcare, risk during pregnancy, and risk during breastfeeding will be paid by the managing body (entidad gestora) or, where applicable, by the collaborating mutual insurance company (mutua colaboradora) through direct payment, and any benefits due for temporary incapacity arising from common or occupational contingencies will in all cases be paid through delegated payment (pago delegado).

Who is responsible for complying with Social Security obligations?

In the case of paid training internships, the Social Security obligations will rest with the entity funding the training program. Registrations and deregistrations with Social Security will be carried out in accordance with the generally applicable rules.

In the case of unpaid training internships, it will be the company where the internship takes place that must comply with the Social Security obligations, unless there is an agreement stating that the training institution will be responsible.

What do the contributions involve?

Interns will pay Social Security contributions, but:

• They will not contribute for unemployment, FOGASA, or vocational training.
• Nor will they contribute to the Intergenerational Equity Mechanism (Mecanismo de Equidad Intergeneracional, MEI).

In unpaid internships, temporary incapacity benefits arising from common contingencies will be excluded. Interns must be registered with Social Security at the start of the internship and deregistered at its end.

Registration and deregistration must be notified to the General Treasury of the Social Security (Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social, TGSS) within 10 calendar days of the start or end of the internship.

When must contributions be paid?

The deadlines for paying contributions for unpaid internships would be set as follows (payment may be made up to the penultimate calendar day of the following months):

• Contributions for January, February, and March will be paid in April.
• Contributions for April, May, and June will be paid in June.
• Contributions for July, August, and September will be paid in October.
• Contributions for October, November, and December will be paid in January.

From January 1, 2024, contributions for unpaid training internships will consist of an employer contribution, for each day of registration, of €2.36 for common contingencies and €0.29 for occupational contingencies.

Will this measure have retroactive effect?

As regards the retroactivity of this measure, the legislation does not provide for retroactive effects. However, there is the option of entering into a special agreement (convenio especial), the cost of which is borne by the interns and which covers a period of 5 years. Those who worked as interns before January 1, 2024 may enter into this special agreement. This agreement will allow them to have contributions counted for periods of training or of non-employment internships (prácticas no laborales) and academic internships carried out before the rules came into force, up to a maximum of five years.

When do contributions for “interns” take effect?

The inclusion in the Social Security system of students undertaking training internships was initially scheduled for October 1, 2023, under Royal Decree-Law 2/2023, of March 16.

However, it was postponed to January 1, 2024 by Royal Decree-Law 5/2023, of June 28, in order to facilitate, during this vacatio legis, the adaptation of training centers and of whoever must assume the status of the party responsible for complying with Social Security obligations in respect of those undertaking the internships.

Nevertheless, interns who undertook training internships before January 1, 2024 may enter into the so-called special agreement, on a one-time basis, enabling them to have contributions counted for non-employment internship periods completed before January 1, 2024, up to a maximum of five years, since Royal Decree-Law 5/2023 extended the two-year limit initially envisaged.