FAQS about social security contributions for curricular placements

Additional provision 52a of the recast text of the General Law on Social Security in Spain, states that students carrying out training or academic external work placements included in their education or training courses are included is the Spanish Social Security system.

From 1 January 2024

Official Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and PhD programmes, and UAB lifelong learning Master's degrees, specialisation diplomas and expert diplomas.

All external academic curricular and non-curricular work placements, whether paid or unpaid.

Only external work placements are subject to contributions, in other words placements in companies, institutions or at the UAB as part of an educational cooperation framework agreement, which are undertaken by students autonomously and for which they have assigned an academic tutor and a tutor in the organisation.  

No, although there may be an institutional agreement to cover some of the activities carried out as part of the final project.

No. To do external curricular work placements you must have previously registered for the subject included in your syllabus.

What determines the obligation to contribute is not the place where the practice is carried out, but rather whether it is a company with a CIF in Spain. Therefore, if the internship is done abroad, but the agreement is made with a Spanish company, it is subject to listing, but if the company is foreign it is not listed.

No. These students d'ont have to contribute.

Students on the Erasmus+ and Exchange Programme UAB do not have to be included.

Students on the SICUE programme must be included in the Spanish Social Security system by their host university.

These students contribute if their internships are paid. If they are not remunerated, the contribution will depend on whether it has been established in the agreement.

It should be taken into account that the Erasmus internship program is a specific program differentiated from the Erasmus studies program (Erasmus +).

Anyone who has obtained a place to study at the UAB with the aim of obtaining a qualification, who has registered for the course, and who has to carry out an external academic curricular placement in Spain must be included in the Spanish Social Security system. 

It is not necessary to include in the Spanish Social Security system foreign students who are registered at the UAB for courses that are carried out entirely online because they neither study nor attend work placements in Spain.

The organisation in which student is doing the paid work placement is responsible for registering and de-registering the student in the Spanish Social Security system as well as making payment for any necessary insurance for the student. The organisation must request a specific Contribution Account Code from the General Treasury Office of the Social Security.

The organisation in which student is doing the paid work placement is responsible for registering them, unless the educational cooperation agreement in question states that this obligation corresponds to the UAB.

In the case of attached centres, each centre may establish who is responsible for ensuring inclusion in the Spanish Social Security system.

The agreement regulating the programme must establish which university is responsible for registering students in the system, and this should be the same as the university in which they register for the external academic work placement subject and that which manages the educational cooperation agreement.

The NSS is the Social Security Number and is a unique and personal 12-digit numerical code that identifies the person in their relations with the Spanish Social Security system during their working life.

Yes, you can check your employment situation in real time via the web or the app, indicating the date of your first registration, the company name and your start date. You can also generate a document called an Informe de situació actual del treballador (Report on the current situation of an employee) which contains all your working life details and can be validated at the headquarters of the General Treasury of the Social Security.

It is essential for all students doing external academic work placements subject to Social Security contributions to have an NSS to be able to be registered or de-registered in the system and to communicate the days of the work placement so that the contributions can be paid.

Foreign students who don't have a NIE can apply for an NUSS with their passport as long as they have started the procedures to request the NIE.

The UAB can consult and obtain documentation and information about its students from other public administrations via an intermediation platform.

This does not require the consent of the student, although students must be advised beforehand in case they wish to exercise their right of opposition. If the student opposes consultation of their social security number by the UAB it will be the student’s responsibility to provide it.

In this case the UAB will cancel the student’s registration on the external academic work placement subject without the right to refund, in accordance with the established procedure. Students without an NSS are not permitted to undertake external academic extra-curricular work placements either.

Contributions to the Social Security vary according to the following factors:

1. Contributions are not made under the concept of the Mechanism for Intergenerational Equality (MEI) (Link in Spanish).
2. A reduction of 95% is applied for common contingency quotas.
3. The basis for monthly contributions for the purpose of benefits will be the minimum contribution rate in force for grupo de cotitzación 8:

Social Security contributions for unpaid work placements (RD 2/2023)

1. Professional contingencies are the events that occur as a result of a work activity that causes changes to health considered to be work accidents or professional illnesses.
2. Accidents which occur during the journey to or from the work placement are also considered professional contingencies.
3. Absence as a result of professional contingencies is only counted on the days of the work placements.

1. There is no minimum period for the receipt of benefits for temporary absence as a result of a work accident.
2. For situations of childbirth and care of a minor, generally the contribution requirements vary according to age:
   1. 1. There is no requirement for people under the age of 21.
      2. People aged between 21 and 25 have to have contributed 90days in the 7 previous years, together with an overall total of 180 days of contributions.
      3. People aged 26 and over have to have contributed 180 days in the 7 previous years, together with an overall total of 360 days of contributions.

You must go to the medical centre of the corresponding employment insurance provider (in the case of unpaid work placements this is EGARSAT). The provider will organise justification of the absence and will set up medical supervision, where necessary.

Yes. Even though the end of the academic year implies the end of the affiliation with the Social Security system, payment of benefits for IT by the insurance provider must continue until the IT situation is resolved.

Yes. If the student is on leave for other reasons, they can do the internship.

No. If you are on leave of absence in one organisation you must also be on leave of absence in all the other organisations for which you are registered in the Social Security system.

No. If the student is already registered in the social security contribution system for another work-related activity, in an assimilated affiliated situation, and receives any benefits or holds pensioner status, contributions do not apply for the work placement.

In these cases, the university will send the information about the work placement to the TGSS using the general procedure and it will be this body that will carry out any relevant checks.

The General Treasury of the Social Security has set up the following telephone numbers 915410291 and 901502050. Please choose the "citizen" option when calling.

If registration for the work placement is cancelled once it has already started, contributions must be paid for the days of the work placement undertaken. On the last day of the placement undertaken deregistration must be communicated to the Spanish Social Security system.  

They can only be included in the Spanish Social Security system for work placements carried out after the first six weeks of the obligatory leave for childbirth and care of a minor.

No. It does not matter whether you are a party to one or more educational cooperation agreements.

The date of registration will be that of the first work placement to start and the date of de-registration will be for the one that finishes last. Contributions must be paid for all the days on which the student has undertaken work placements.

Yes, there is no incompatibility where two different contribution groups are involved.

If the work placement continues beyond 31 December 2023 the student must be re-registered from 1 January 2024. If the educational cooperation agreement did not specify that the organisation would assume registrations with the Spanish Social Security system an addendum must be made to the original agreement specifying which organisation is responsible for registrations with the Spanish Social Security system.

People who carried out external academic work placements before the publication of the new law can sign up to a special once-only agreement, within the period and under the conditions set by the Ministry for Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations which allow for the calculation of contributions for placements carried out before the day the law came into force, up to a maximum of 5 years and 1,825 days of contributions.

Universities can only supply students with a certificate that they have undertaken the placements, using the model produced by the Ministry adapted to the UAB.

Contributions are made for work placement days for each corresponding month. Partial days count as full days for this purpose.

One day of unpaid work placement is worth 1.61 days of contributions. Under no circumstances may the number of days be more than those of the corresponding month. Partial days which may result from the above ratio are counted as full days.

a) Protection is that offered by the applicable Social Security regime (assimilated to people working as employees), excluding the following cover:

I. Unemployment protection,

II. Salary Guarantee Fund,

III. Professional Development,

IV. In the case of unpaid work placements protection for temporary leave of absence as a result of common contingencies (illness) is also excluded).

b) Benefits are payable in the following situations:

I. Childbirth, care of minors, risk during pregnancy and risk during breastfeeding. These payments are made directly by the managing organisation or the insurance partner.

II. Situations of temporary leave of absence as a result of professional contingencies (IT) which are paid by the organisation where the work placements are undertaken or by the centre responsible for the educational qualification.

III. Payment for the above situations is made for the total number of days in which the student is in that situation, independently of whether they have had to undertake any days of the work placement or not.

Employment history reports include periods of registration with the Social Security system, the number of days of the work placement actually carried out and reported and, where necessary, the number of days of situations of temporary leave of absence reported due to professional contingencies or any of the situations of benefit included.  

For more information, check the official Seguridad Social site.