Royal Decree-Law 2/2023 of March 16 on pension reform, effective as of October 1, 2023, has included in the Social Security system students who carry out training and academic internships included in training programs.
We inform you that Royal Decree-Law 2/2023, of March 16, on pension reform, effective as of October 1, 2023, has included in the Social Security system students who carry out training and academic internships included in training programs.
Thus, all trainees in internships will pay contributions as of October 2023, regardless of whether they are paid or unpaid.
Until now, only students with paid internships paid Social Security contributions for common contingencies and professional contingencies. Thus, scholarship holders with paid internships added years of work experience to be considered for retirement.
Inclusion in the Social Security system
Well, now, the performance of training internships in companies, institutions or entities included in training programs and the performance of external academic internships under the respective legal and regulatory regulation, will determine the inclusion in the Social Security system.
Which students are eligible for this situation?
Those carried out by university students, both those aimed at obtaining official bachelor’s and master’s degrees, doctorate, as well as those aimed at obtaining a university degree, whether it is a permanent training master’s degree, a specialization diploma or an expert diploma.
Those carried out by vocational training students, as long as they are not provided under the intensive vocational training regime.
The persons who carry out the internship will be included as employees in the General Social Security System, excluding the special systems thereof, unless the internship or training is carried out on board vessels, in which case they will be included in the Special Social Security System for Seafarers.
Protective action
The protective action will be that corresponding to the applicable Social Security regime, with the exclusion of unemployment protection, the coverage of the Wage Guarantee Fund and Professional Training. In the case of unpaid internships, protection for temporary disability benefits derived from common contingencies will also be excluded.
The economic benefits for birth and care of a minor, risk during pregnancy and risk during breastfeeding, will be paid by the managing entity or, if applicable, by the collaborating mutual insurance company, by means of direct payment by the same.
The benefits corresponding to the situation of temporary incapacity derived from common or professional contingencies will be paid in all cases by means of delegated payment.
Social Security obligations
a) In the case of paid training internships, compliance with Social Security obligations shall correspond to the entity or body financing the training program, which shall assume the status of employer for these purposes. In the event that the program is co-financed by two or more entities or organizations, the employer will be the one to which the respective economic consideration is paid.
Social Security registrations and cancellations shall be made in accordance with the general applicable regulations.b) In the case of unpaid training internships, compliance with Social Security obligations shall correspond to the company, institution, or entity in which the internships are carried out, unless the cooperation agreement or agreement, if any, signed for the performance thereof stipulates that such obligations shall correspond to the training center responsible for the training offer. Whoever assumes the condition of employer must communicate the effective days of practices from the information provided by the center where the training practice is carried out.
The entity that is responsible in accordance with the above paragraph will request from the General Treasury of the Social Security the assignment of a specific contribution account code for this group of people.
Social Security registrations and cancellations shall be made in accordance with the general applicable regulations, except for the exceptions provided for in this regulation, with the registration being made at the beginning of the training internship and the cancellation at the end thereof, without prejudice to the fact that for the purposes of Social Security contributions and their protective action, only the days on which the internships are carried out shall be taken into account. For these purposes, the term for notifying the Social Security General Treasury of such registration and cancellation will be ten calendar days from the beginning or end of the internship.
Social Security contributions
In the case of both paid and unpaid internships, the following provisions shall apply:
- In both cases, the finalist contribution of the Intergenerational Equity Mechanism (MEI) is expressly excluded.
- A reduction of 95 percent will be applicable to the contributions for common contingencies, and no other contribution benefits other than this reduction will be applicable to them.
- The entity that assumes the condition of company for the purposes of the obligations with the Social Security acquires the condition of obliged subject and responsible for the payment of the totality of the quotas.
The contribution in the case of remunerated training practices
- It will be made applying the contribution rules corresponding to the training contracts in alternation, established in the respective General State Budget Law and in its application and development rules.
- The monthly contribution base applicable for benefit purposes will be the minimum contribution base in force at any given time with respect to contribution group 7, except in those months in which the registration does not extend to all of these, in which case the contribution base for benefit purposes will be the proportional part of said minimum base.
The contribution in the case of non-remunerated training practices
a) It will consist of a company contribution for each day of training practices for common contingencies and for professional contingencies, which will take into account the exclusion of the coverage of temporary disability (TI) derived from common contingencies, which will be established for each fiscal year in the corresponding General State Budget Law, without exceeding the maximum contribution for common and professional contingencies that will also be determined in said law.
Pursuant to the second transitory provision of Royal Decree-Law 2/2023, between October 1 and December 31, 2023, this contribution will consist of a company contribution for each day of registration of 2.36 euros for common contingencies and 0.29 euros for professional contingencies. The maximum monthly contribution will be 53.59 euros for common contingencies and 6.51 euros for professional contingencies.
b) The monthly contribution base applicable for benefit purposes will be the result of multiplying the minimum contribution base in force at any given time for contribution group 8 (for 2023: 38.89 €/day), by the number of days of training carried out in the calendar month with the limit, in any case, of the amount of the minimum monthly contribution base corresponding to contribution group 7 (1,166.70 €/month for 2023).
c) The regulatory period for the payment of the contributions corresponding to the months of January, February and March will be the month of April; that of the contributions corresponding to the months of April, May and June, will be the month of July; that of the contributions corresponding to the months of July, August and September, will be the month of October; and that of the contributions corresponding to the months of October, November and December, will be the month of January.
Up to the penultimate calendar day of each of the months which, in accordance with the above paragraph, constitute the regulatory period for payment of contributions, the entities that assume the status of company must communicate to the General Treasury of the Social Security (TGSS) the number of days on which any unpaid internships and training programs have been carried out, carried out by the persons assimilated to employees referred to in this section, during the three immediately preceding months.
d) In the case of persons who have not carried out any unpaid internships or training programs in each month, this circumstance must be expressly reported. In any case, the company must request from the TGSS the payment of contributions corresponding to the three immediately preceding months, up to the penultimate calendar day of the respective payment period.
When the person doing the internship is in a situation of temporary incapacity (TI) derived from professional contingencies, birth, and care of a minor, risk during pregnancy or breastfeeding, the company must indicate to the TGSS the days foreseen for the internship.
Failure by the company to comply with the duty to provide the indicated data will mean that the amount of the debt for the monthly period to which the same refers will be the result of multiplying the sum of the contributions by the number of days of registration in the month in question.
e) For the purposes of benefits, each day of unpaid training shall be considered as 1.61 days of contribution, without exceeding, in any case, the number of days of the corresponding month. The fractions of a day that may result from the above coefficient will be computed as a full day.
Does it apply retroactively?
The regulation establishes that the persons referred to in this provision who, prior to its date of entry into force (October 1, 2023), had been in the situation indicated therein, may subscribe a special agreement, for a single time, in the term, terms and conditions determined by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, which will enable them to compute the contribution for the periods of training or non-working and academic internships carried out before the date of entry into force, up to a maximum of two years.
You can contact this professional office for any doubt or clarification you may have in this regard.
For further information, please contact Labor Advisory
