Training for Companies in Spain: How to apply for subsidised training

Subsidised training allows companies in Spain to finance part or all of the cost of training their employees through credits applied to Social Security contributions. Every eligible company has an annual training credit that can be used to develop the skills its workforce actually needs.

This is an important distinction for international companies operating in Spain. The business does not receive a grant in advance. Instead, it organises the training, completes the required administrative steps and then applies the corresponding amount as a reduction in its Social Security contributions (SEPE, n.d.).

In Spanish, the system is known as formación bonificada — also commonly searched as formacion bonificada — or formación programada por las empresas. It is managed through FUNDAE and forms part of Spain's vocational training system for employment.

And although the scheme has been in place for years, a large share of the available funding still goes unused. In 2025, 348,443 companies used subsidised training, representing only 20.5% of eligible businesses. Companies also used just 51.8% of the total training credit available (FUNDAE, 2026).

For employers, that makes company training more than an HR benefit. It can support Upskilling and reskilling, prepare teams for technological change and make lifelong learning part of workforce planning rather than something employees have to manage on their own.

What are subsidised training for companies in Spain?

Subsidised training for companies is a system that allows employers to organise training based on the needs of their workforce and then recover eligible costs through their Social Security contributions.

The process can be summarised quite simply

• The company identifies a skills or knowledge gap within its workforce.
• It chooses training that responds to that need.
• The employee takes part without paying for the course personally.
• The company uses its available credit and later applies the eligible amount against its Social Security contributions.

SEPE explains that employer-programmed training should respond both to the company's needs and to changes in the labour market. Its purpose is not simply to accumulate courses, but to improve qualifications, professional adaptability and employability (SEPE, n.d.).

That means the scheme can cover very different development needs. A business may want to strengthen management skills, prepare teams to use new technology or address emerging areas such as Corporate Sustainability.

It is also worth separating subsidised training from conventional public grants. The funding does not normally arrive in the company's bank account before the course begins. The financial benefit is applied afterwards through the contribution system.

How do subsidised training for companies work?

Everything starts with the company's annual training credit.

The amount is calculated using the company's previous year's contributions for vocational training and the average size of its workforce. A percentage is then applied according to the number of employees (FUNDAE, n.d.).

• 1 to 9 employees — 100%
• 10 to 49 employees — 75%
• 50 to 249 employees — 60%
• More than 250 employees — 50%

This is why two companies enrolling an employee on exactly the same programme may not be able to claim the same amount.

Small and medium-sized businesses also have an option that can make longer-term training plans easier. Companies with fewer than 50 employees can reserve unused credit and carry it over for the following two financial years, provided they request this within the established deadline.

The credit can be checked and managed through FUNDAE's business platform. International employers looking for information online may also come across the search term fundae empresas, which refers to the business side of the Spanish FUNDAE system.

Once the company has chosen the training, it must communicate the course, deliver it and report its completion. The credit available acts as the maximum amount that can be claimed, and the reduction can be applied after the completion of the training has been communicated (Boletín Oficial del Estado, 2025).

Who can access company training credits?

Finding a course advertised as eligible is only one part of the process. There must also be an eligible company with available credit and a worker who meets the participation requirements.

The main groups include

• Employees working for companies that contribute towards vocational training.
• Permanent seasonal employees during periods when they are not working.
• Employees who become unemployed after the training has already started.
• Workers affected by certain temporary employment suspension measures.

These groups are covered by Royal Decree 694/2017, which regulates the recipients of training initiatives within the Spanish employment system (Boletín Oficial del Estado, 2017).

Self-employed professionals need to make an important distinction. A self-employed person cannot use a company's training credit to pay for their own course simply because they are autónomo. If they employ staff, however, they may be able to organise subsidised training for eligible employees.

Unemployed people generally access a different part of the Spanish training system. Training specifically designed for jobseekers is provided through public employment programmes rather than through an individual company's credit (SEPE, n.d.).

For HR teams, this distinction matters. A company looking to develop leadership capabilities, for instance, may decide that the priority lies in talent management and people strategy. Resources such as Find your Master in HR, Leadership and Talent Manager can help identify programmes that match that type of development need before checking their eligibility under the Spanish scheme.

Which courses and programs are eligible for subsidised training?

Not every activity described as "training" automatically qualifies for the scheme.

Spanish regulations establish a number of conditions that an eligible training action must meet. Among the most relevant are

• The programme must relate to the company's activity and its training needs.
• It must last at least two hours.
• Training can be delivered face to face, online or through a blended model.
• Employees must not be charged for participating.
• Activities that are purely informational or promotional are not considered eligible training actions.
• Face-to-face groups are generally limited to 30 participants.
• Online provision requires at least one tutor for every 80 participants.

These requirements are set out in Royal Decree 694/2017 (Boletín Oficial del Estado, 2017).

In practical terms, eligible training can range from focused technical courses to more extensive professional development programmes. A master's degree, however, is not automatically fully funded simply because it can fall within the scheme.

The company still needs to check

• whether the specific programme can be included
• how much training credit remains available
• the eligible cost of the training
• any limits that apply to the action

This is where the company's skills strategy should come first. If the aim is to strengthen senior management and international business capabilities, an International MBA Online may fit the development plan. If the priority is making better use of data across the organisation, a Master in Business Analytics & AI can respond to a very different skills need.

Finance teams may identify gaps in financial planning, investment decisions or business control, making a Master in Financial Management relevant to the employee's development path.

Technology offers another clear example. A company preparing to implement Big Data in a company may discover that short introductory courses are not enough for the people who will lead that transformation. In that context, a Máster en Big Data can provide broader training than a course focused on one particular platform.

The same logic applies when comparing Soft skills vs. hard skills. A company's training plan does not have to focus exclusively on technical capabilities. Leadership, communication, negotiation and decision-making can be just as important when they are connected to the employee's role and the organisation's objectives.

The right question is not only "Can this course be subsidised?" but also "Does this training solve a real skills need in the business?"

How much training credit can a company receive?

This is one of the areas where misunderstandings are most common.

The price of a course, the company's available credit and the final amount that can be claimed are not necessarily the same figure.

As explained above, the initial credit depends on the company's vocational training contributions and workforce size. But the final calculation can also be affected by eligible costs and the limits applied to each training action.

There is another set of percentages to understand — private co-financing.

Companies with more than five employees must contribute their own resources towards training costs. Under Law 30/2015, the minimum levels are

• 1 to 5 employees — 0%, with no private co-financing requirement.
• 6 to 9 employees — 5%.
• 10 to 49 employees — 10%.
• 50 to 249 employees — 20%.
• 250 employees or more — 40%.

(Boletín Oficial del Estado, 2015)

These figures should not be confused with the percentages used to calculate the training credit.

Training credit tells the company how much funding it has available. Private co-financing indicates how much of the training cost the employer must contribute itself.

For example, an eight-person business and a company with 300 employees will not only have different training-credit percentages. Their minimum co-financing requirements are also very different — 5% for the smaller company compared with 40% for the larger one.

That is why the most useful calculation happens before enrolment. First check the available credit, then assess the programme and its cost.

How to manage company training credits step by step

The process includes several administrative stages, but it becomes much easier to follow when they are handled in the right order.

1. Check the available training credit
   Before choosing a course, the company needs to know how much funding it has available. The Formación Programada platform calculates the credit using workforce and contribution data.
2. Identify the actual training need
   The programme should respond to the needs of the company and its employees. A clear development objective also makes it easier to decide whether the priority is technical training, leadership development or broader professional education.
3. Choose who will manage the process
   A business can handle the administration itself or work with an external organising entity.
4. Inform employee representatives where required
   If there is a legal employee representative body, it must receive information about the planned training. It has 15 working days to issue its response.
5. Notify the training before it starts
   Under the current procedure, the group must be registered at least two calendar days before the start date.
6. Deliver the training and record participation
   Attendance or activity must be monitored and the training evaluated. For an employee to be reported as having completed the programme, at least 75% of the training must have been completed.
7. Report completion and costs
   The company records which employees have completed the programme, its costs and the amount it intends to claim.
8. Apply the credit to Social Security contributions
   Once completion has been reported, the company can apply the corresponding reduction through the RED System.

The operational deadlines and attendance requirements are set out in FUNDAE's current guidance for employer-programmed training (FUNDAE, n.d.).

There is one final step that is easy to overlook once the financial benefit has been applied. Invoices, accounting evidence and the other documents supporting the training must be kept for four years in case the administration carries out a later check (Boletín Oficial del Estado, 2025).

For companies in Spain, subsidised training works best when it is treated as part of a broader talent strategy rather than as credit that simply needs to be spent before it expires. Start with the skills the business needs, identify the people who need to develop them and then check which training can be financed through the scheme. That approach makes the available credit useful for real workforce development — whether the goal is management, finance, data, AI or the new capabilities businesses need to keep evolving.