Do you own a construction company? Important changes.

As of February 1, all self-employed workers with employees and all small businesses in the construction sector must contribute to a pension plan for their employees.

The Construction Sector Pension Plan is a mandatory fund for companies in the sector in Spain, governed by the 7th General Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Construction Sector (VII CGSC). It covers the contingencies of retirement, permanent disability, and death, with mandatory contributions from companies and voluntary contributions from self-employed workers. This measure is already regulated in the various provincial collective bargaining agreements.

Construction has become the first activity to implement the so-called Simplified Occupational Pension Plans (Planes de Empleo Simplificados). These plans are a new form of retirement saving that is expected to extend to other sectors and to serve as an effective supplement to public benefits in the future.

What is the construction pension plan?

It is the Fund into which the Simplified Occupational Pension Plan for the Construction Sector is integrated, in accordance with the provisions of these Specifications Regulations (Reglamento de Especificaciones). In other words, it is the vehicle through which the system of supplementary social benefits established in Book Three of the General Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Construction Sector (VII CGSC), published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) of September 23, 2023, is implemented. (Amending agreement published in the BOE of January 8, 2024.)

Which companies are subject to the obligation?

Contributions are mandatory for salaried workers covered by the construction sector collective bargaining agreement and voluntary for self-employed workers in the sector.

All companies in the construction sector in Spain (including small construction businesses, whether legal entities or individuals) will be required to make annual contributions to a pension plan for their workers.

Self-employed workers to whom the General Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Construction Sector applies, as well as those who do not employ salaried workers but whose economic activity falls within the construction activity codes of the National Classification of Economic Activities (CNAE), may voluntarily join this Simplified Occupational Pension Plan for the Construction Sector as Sponsoring Entities (Entidades Promotoras).

If, for specific reasons, companies apply one or more other collective bargaining agreements to their workers, the worker’s inclusion in the Plan and the regime of employer and worker contributions agreed in the General Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Construction Sector and its Regulations will apply only to the workers falling within its scope.

Since when has it been mandatory?

Companies must begin making monthly contributions as of February 1, 2024 (the date on which the Plan will be integrated into the fund to be managed by VidaCaixa). However, contributions for the period from January 1, 2022 to January 31, 2024 may be made “within the three months following the entry into force of the pension plan.”

Pursuant to Article 52 of the VII CGSC and the instructions set out in Vida Caixa’s Aporta+ application:

• Amounts for 2022 and 2023 must be paid within the three months following the entry into force of the pension plan (deadline for paying arrears: April 30).

• Amounts for 2024 must be paid within the first quarter of that year. As of February 1, 2024, companies must begin making monthly contributions (the February contribution will be paid in arrears).

• Amounts, where applicable, for 2025 and subsequent years must be paid, in each year, within the three months following the setting of the employer contributions to the pension plan by the collective bargaining agreement.

In accordance with the provisions of the General Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Construction Sector, this obligation entered into force on the date of the Plan’s integration into the Occupational Pension Fund.

The Labor Inspectorate (Inspección de Trabajo), within its powers, could request proof of payment from the company, since this is an obligation established in a collective bargaining agreement. Failure to comply could result in administrative penalties.

How much must the company contribute to the pension plan?

Contribution amounts will be set, in general terms, in the General Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Construction Sector. The amounts vary depending on the employee’s professional category and on the salary tables contained in the provincial construction collective bargaining agreements.

The amounts of the employer contributions to the pension plan must be set in the provincial or, where applicable, regional collective bargaining agreements for each professional level.

Payment of the employer contributions by the Sponsoring Entities, of the contributions by self-employed workers, and, where applicable, of the voluntary contributions by workers must be made on the same date on which Social Security contributions are due.

At the national level, the employer contribution during the term of the employment contract of those workers in respect of whom the obligation exists will be as follows:

Year 2022: 1.00 percent of the amount of the salary items in the 2021 tables of the applicable collective bargaining agreement, if the worker provided services full-time throughout 2022 or, otherwise, the corresponding pro rata portion.

Year 2023: 1.00 percent of the amount of the salary items in the 2021 tables of the applicable collective bargaining agreement, if the worker provided services full-time throughout 2023 or, otherwise, the corresponding pro rata portion.

Year 2024: 1.00 percent of the amount of the salary items in the 2021 tables of the applicable collective bargaining agreement, plus 0.25 percent of the amount of the salary items in the 2023 tables of the applicable collective bargaining agreement, if the worker provided services full-time throughout 2024 or, otherwise, the corresponding pro rata portion.

Year 2025: the contributions to the pension plan will be renegotiated.

The contributions corresponding to 2022, and to the months of 2023 prior to the integration of the Plan into the Pension Fund, will be paid to the Depositary (Entidad Depositaria) within the 90 days following that integration and following completion of the formalities and requirements established in the applicable regulations. They will therefore be due provided that the worker is still working for the company and has that length of service.

What must the company do in its capacity as a sponsoring entity?

For these purposes, each and every company, whether a legal entity or an individual, falling within the scope of the General Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Construction Sector is enrolled in the Simplified Occupational Pension Plan for the Construction Sector. The rules refer to them as “Sponsoring Entities.”

1. Registration of a sponsoring entity or self-employed worker

This will require submitting the relevant Annex to the Management Company (Entidad Gestora). Self-employed workers will be required to submit the corresponding application using the form approved by the Pension Plan Control Committee (Comisión de Control).

2. Obligations of each sponsoring entity

Each construction company will be required to:

• Register as a contributing entity in the occupational pension plan.

• Pay the established contributions in the amount, manner, and time limits provided for in these Specifications Regulations and in the General Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Construction Sector.

• Provide the data on Members (Partícipes), Suspended Members (Partícipes en Suspenso), and, where applicable, Beneficiaries that the Control Committee or the Management Company may request from it and that are strictly necessary for them to perform their supervisory and control functions regarding benefit rights and obligations, with those bodies preserving, in all cases, the confidentiality of such data, in accordance with current personal data protection legislation.

• Comply with the other obligations set out in these Specifications Regulations, in current legislation, and in the General Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Construction Sector.

3. Notification of new contracts to the Fund’s Management Company

Each Sponsoring Entity will notify the Fund’s Management Company, on a monthly basis, of the number of new hires made during that period.

4. Notification to the worker

Upon joining the Plan, workers will be provided with the Certificate of Plan Membership. Likewise, the following will be made available to them electronically: these Specifications and their corresponding Annexes, the Statement of Investment Policy Principles of the Pension Fund, the General Information Document on the Pension Plan, the Statement of the Fund’s Long-Term Strategy, the Pension Benefit Statement, the Fund’s Engagement Policy, and any other documentation required by current legislation. Such information will be provided in printed form only at the express request of the Member.

5. Notification/amendment of personal data

The VII CGSC establishes the minimum content of the Personal Data Notification/Amendment Form:

a) First name, surnames, national identity document (D.N.I.) number, date of birth, marital status, and address of the Member.
b) Sponsoring Entity to which the Member belongs.
c) Date and signature of the Member.