Alarming new figures from the Spanish government show that almost 60% of self-employed workers who apply for unemployment benefit are rejected.
The president of the Union of Self-Employed Professionals and Workers (UPTA), Eduardo Abad, branded that so-called ‘self-employed unemployment benefit’ the ‘great failure of Spain’s social protection system.’
He said the aid – paro de los autonomos in Spanish – is simply not fulfilling its core purpose of protecting the financial stability of the self-employed (autonomos).
In his view, the benefit in its current form does not respond to the real needs of the sector and is, in practice, ‘ineffective and excessively restrictive’.
His comments follow the publication of official Social Security data for October 2025, reported by Europa Press, which show that cessation-of-activity benefits were granted to just 45.7% of self-employed applicants, while 58.8% were rejected.
Abad described the situation as unacceptable, saying: ‘It is simply not acceptable that, after paying into this benefit for years, more than half of applications are rejected.
‘We are facing a system that, far from protecting the self-employed, actively excludes them.’
UPTA has once again called for a reform of a benefit it considers essential to the social protection of the sector.
According to the organisation, ‘thousands of self-employed workers who are forced to close their businesses are being pushed out of the protection system, particularly in traditional sectors with limited capacity to survive’.
UPTA insists that although the cessation-of-activity benefit is a recognised right for the self-employed, ‘its excessive administrative complexity and disproportionately strict access requirements have turned it into a completely failed system’.
For these reasons, the organisation is urging the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration to ‘stop looking the other way’ and urgently resume negotiations to improve social protection for the self-employed and properly adapt the contribution system based on real income.
UPTA also describes it as ‘utterly irresponsible’ that no progress has been made on this issue throughout 2025.
What is paro de los autonomos?
THe paro de los autonomos is designed to provide temporary financial support to self-employed people who are forced to stop working involuntarily.
This could be due to serious economic losses, technical or organisational reasons, loss of a key licence or contract or force majeure (events beyond their control).
To access it, self-employed workers must have paid specific contributions to the Social Security for a minimum period.
If granted, the benefit usually provides a monthly payment based on previous contributions, continued payment of Social Security contributions during the benefit period and coverage for a limited time, depending on how long the person has paid in.
Although it exists in law and workers pay into it, critics argue that the eligibility criteria are too strict and that the paperwork is complex.
In reality, many applications are rejected, even after years of contributions.
