All companies that apply the collective bargaining agreement for construction work in Barcelona must make monthly contributions to an occupational pension plan for the construction sector.
All companies and self-employed workers with employees governed by the collective bargaining agreement for the construction industry in Barcelona and in any other province in Spain must make monthly contributions to a sectoral employment pension plan on behalf of their employees, as set forth in the new general collective bargaining agreement for the sector, which was published on September 23, 2023 in the Official State Gazette (BOE).
Article 56 of the VII General Collective Bargaining Agreement for the construction sector, in its article 56, agrees the formalization at state level of a simplified employment pension plan in the construction sector, under the terms and conditions set forth in Book Three of the agreement.
This Third Book transcribes the Regulation of Specifications of the Pension Plan for the Construction Sector and, among other things, considers that all companies, both individuals and legal entities, included in the scope of the VII CGS, with hired workers are promoter entities and defines the participants as any worker linked to any of the promoter entities to which the VII CGSC is applicable.
The National Construction Confederation (CNC), CC.OO. del Habitat and UGT-FICA have chosen VidaCaixa for the management of this Simplified Employment Pension Plan for the Construction Sector, so this entity will be the only one to manage this pension plan.
VidaCaixa through the Pension Fund “Pensions Caixa 112, F.P” has admitted the integration of the Simplified Employment Pension Plan for the Construction Sector on February 1, 2024.
- Access the VidaCaixa Aporta+ portal and register as a user:
- Register in the Pension Plan.
- Register all your employees, whether they are entitled to have contributions.
- Make the contributions established in the amount established in the applicable provincial collective bargaining agreement.
Steps 2, 3 and 4 cannot be carried out on the same day, since at least 24 hours must elapse between them, as the data collected in the promoter and employee registrations must be validated.
In the following link you can download the VidaCaixa explanatory brochure on how to register in the simplified pension plan:
Contributions to the pension plan
The VII Construction Agreement establishes that companies must make contributions to this new simplified pension plan as follows:
- With retroactive effect for fiscal years 2022, 2023 and January 2024: Companies are given 90 days from February 1, 2024, to pay these arrears accrued from January 1, 2022 to January 31, 2024, so the last day to make these contributions is April 30, 2024.
These contributions corresponding to fiscal years 2022 and 2023, with retroactive effect, will be made for workers who are still registered with the company on February 1, 2024, which is when the simplified employment pension plan in the construction sector comes into effect.
- Make the monthly contributions as of February 2024, which will be made retroactively in arrears, following the instructions established in the VidaCaixa Aporta+ application. The promoter’s account will be debited on March 22, 2024, so the information on participants and contributions must be loaded in the Aporta+ application before March 20, 2024, although it is recommended to do it as soon as possible.
With respect to the amounts to be contributed, the general agreement includes the following:
- In 2022, of 1% of the amount of the salary concepts of the 2021 tables of the provincial collective bargaining agreement.
- In 2023, of 1% of the amount of the salary concepts of the 2021 tables of the provincial collective bargaining agreement.
- In 2024, 1% of the amount of the salary concepts of the 2021 tables of the provincial collective bargaining agreement, adding 0.25% of the salary tables corresponding to 2023.
- For the years 2025 and subsequent years, the General Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Construction Sector will renegotiate the contributions to the Pension Plan.
The pension plan will have the character of salary in kind in the employee’s payroll, but it is not subject to income tax withholding.
In addition, self-employed construction workers may also make contributions to the simplified employment pension plan in their own name.
If you have any doubts about this, please contact your labor advisor.
For further information, please contact Labor consulting
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